BASBITS OB Tlli: l.LAJvOa. 
9;i 
because in tbe whole of the Sierra da la Pariina, be- 
■ the right bank of the Orinoco and the liio Negro, 
here is, as in Scandinavia, a totid absence ot secondary 
onnations. The red sandstone, containing some vestiges 
fossil wood (of the family of moiiocohdedons), is scon 
cveryvvhere in the plains of Calabozo: farther east it is 
°'erlaid by calcareous and gypseous rocks, which conceal it 
^'■om the research of the geologist. The marly gypsum, of 
p oh we collected specimens near the Carib mission of 
iichipo, appeared to me to belong to the same formation 
a We gypsum of Ortiz. To class it according to the type 
■European formations, I would range it among the gyp- 
utns, often muriatiterous, that cover the Alpine limestone 
Q®ohstein. Farther north, in the direction of the mission 
i'll Josef de Curataquiche, Jf. Bonpland picked up in 
plain some fine pieces of riband jasper, or Egyptian 
pebbles. We did not sec them in their native place en- 
chased in the rock, and cannot determine whether they 
I ?ng to a very recent conglomerate, or to that limestone 
. och we saw at the Morro of Nueva Barcelona, and which 
a not transition limestone, though it contaijis beds of 
®^f®tose jasper (kicselschiefer). 
We rested on the night of the 16th of July in the Indian 
in 17 ^ of Santa Cruz de Cachipo. This mission, founded 
by several Carib families, who inhabited the iiiuii- 
^ 6d and unhealthy banks of the Lagnnetas do Auache, 
^Pposlte the conilueiico of the Zir Purnay with the Orinoco, 
p- ® lodged at the house of the missionary, Pray Jose de las 
ssiw n ^ examining the registers of the parish, we 
^ ^ how rapidly the prosperity of the community has been 
fanced by his zeal and intelligence. Since we had reached 
^ 0 middle of the plains, the heat had increased to such a 
gree, that we should have preferred travelling no more 
the day ; hut we were without arms, and the Llanos 
tach^ 1 infested by large numbers of robbers, who at- 
murdered the whites who fell into their hands, 
the worse than the administration of justice in 
"ith^ colonies. We every where found the prisons filled 
''^‘''lufactors, on whom sentence is not passed till after 
apse of seven or eight years. Nearly a third of the 
soners succeed in making their escape ; and the unpco- 
