Till] LAOUXA UKASUE. 
iiy 
coutaia nearly flye per cent, of potash, sulphiu’et of iron, 
peroxide of iron, carbon, &c. The contact of so many 
''loistoned heterogeneous substances must necessarily lead 
*■'‘6111 to a change of state and composition. The efflores- 
cent salts that abundantly cover the aluminous slates of 
Imbalo, shew how much these chemical oftects arc favoured 
.V the liigli temperature of tlie climate ; but, 1 repeat, in a 
foek where there are no crevices, no vacuities parallel to tlie 
mrection and inclination of the strata, native alum, semi- 
I’aiisparent and of conchoidal fracture, completely filling 
'bs place (its beds), must be regarded as of the same age 
C'lththe rock in which it is contained. The term “ con- 
oinporary formation ” is here taken in the sense attached 
? it by geologists, in sjicaking of beds of quartz in clay- 
**iate, granular limestone in mica-slate, or feldspar in gneiss. 
After having for a long time wandered over barren scenes, 
amidst rocks entirely devoid of vegetation, our eyes dwelt with 
pleasure on tufts of malpighia and croton, which we found in 
ueseending toward the coast. These arborescent crotons 
"Preof two new species,* very remarkable for their fonn, 
^''d peculiar to the peninsula of Araya. We arrived too late 
*' liaguna Chica, to visit another rock situated farther 
iiist, and celebrated by the name of the Laguna Grande, or the 
f^Snna del Obispo.t' We contented ourselves with admiring 
ftotn the height of the mountains that command the vic\y ; 
‘^d, excepting the ports of Fcrrol and Acapulco, there is 
perhaps none presenting a more extraordinary coaifiguration. 
IS an inland gulf two miles and a half long from east to 
est, and one mile broad. The rocks of mica-slate that form 
‘*>6 entrance of the port, leave a free passage only two 
jjmidred and fifty toises broad. The water is everywhere 
‘'om fifteen to twenty-five fathoms deep. Probably the 
government of Cumana will one day take advantage of the 
jossession of this inhand gulf, and of that of Mocluma,J eight 
o£^|l^o®^ 6 ast of the bad road of Nueva Barcelona. The family 
-t. ?favaretc were waiting for us with impatience on the 
. Croton argyrophyllus, and C. marginatus. 
+ Lake, or the Bishop’s Lake, 
to ti ® '“"S narrow gulf, three miles from north to south, aJmiiai 
o>e fiords of Norway. 
