226 
THE COXVEST BE LA I’OPA. 
heaped-up earth prevents tlie salt water from covering the 
whole plain, the emanations that rise during the heat of tlie 
day, when tlie thermometer stands between 28° and 32° are 
very pernicious to the health of the inhabitants. A small 
portion of hilly land 'separates the town of Carthagena and 
the islet of Maaiga from the Ciencga de Tesca. Those hills, 
some ot which are more than oOO feet high, command the 
town. The Castillo de San Lazaro is soon from afar rising 
. great rocky pyramid ; when examined nearer its 
tortincations are not very formidable. Layers of clay and 
sand, belonging to the tertiary formatioii of iwnelfluhe, are 
covered with bricks, and furnish a kind of construction 
which has little stability. The Cerro de Santa Maria de la 
Popa, crowmed by a convent and some batteries, rises above 
the fort of San Lazaro, and is worthy of more solid end 
extensive works. The image of the ATrgin, presei’ved in the 
church ot the^ convent, has been long revered by mariners. 
The hill itself forms a prolonged ridge from west to east. 
The calcareous rock, with cardites, meaiidrites, and petrified 
corals, somewhat resembles the tertiary limestone of the 
penmsala of Araya, near Gumana. It is split and decom- 
posed m the steep parts of the rock, and the preservation of 
tlie convent on so unsolid a foundation is considered by the 
people as one of the miracles of the patron of the place. 
xS ear the Cerro dela Popa there appears, on several points, 
breccia with a limestone couieut containing Jingular frag- 
ments of Lydian stone. AVhethcr this formation of nm/r!- 
■flulia 19, superposed on tertiary limestone of coral, and 
whether the fragments of the 'Lydian stone come from 
secondary limestone, analogous to that of Zacatecas and the 
More de Nucva Barcelona, are cpiestions which I have nut 
had leisure to investigate. The view from the Popa is ex- 
tensive and varied, and the windings and rents of the coast 
give it a peculiar character. I was assured that sometimes 
tiom the windows of the conv'ent, and even in the open sea, 
betore the fort ot Boca Chlca, the snowy tojia of the Sierra 
JSevada de Santa Marta are discernible. The distance of 
^e Horqueta to the Popa is seventy-eight nautical miles- 
This group of colossal mountains is most frequently 
wrapped in thick clouds : and it is most veiled at the seasou 
when the gales blow with violence. Although only forty- 
