330 
AVEEAGE BKEABTir OF TEE CHAUS'. 
issue from those mountains, those of Las Trincheras (90-4') 
on Its southern slope, and those of Onoto and Mariara on 
its southern slope. The former issue from a granite with 
large grams very regularly stratified ; the latter from a rock 
ot gnei.ss, VVhat especially characterizes the northern chain, 
IS a summit which is not only the loftiest of the system of 
the mountaiM of Venezuela, but of all South America, on 
me east of the Andes. The eastern summit of the Silla of 
to my barometric measurement made in 
1800, IS IdoOtoiscs high,* and notwithstanding the commo- 
tion which took place on the Silla during the great earth- 
quake ot Caracas, tliat mountain did not sink 50 or GO toises 
as some JNorth American journals asserted. Pour or five 
leapies south of the northern chain (that of Mariara, la Silla, 
mid Cape Codera,) the mountains of Guiripa, Ocumare, and 
Panaquire, form the southern chain of the coast, whicli 
stretches in a parallel direction from Guigiie to the mouth of 
the Guacimo. 
Ihe latitudes of the \illa de Cura and San Juan, so erro- 
neously marked on our maps, enabled me to ascertain the 
mean breadth of the whole Cordillera of Venezuela Ten 
or twelve leagues inay be reckoned as the distance from the 
descent of the northern chain which bounds the Caribbean 
bea, to the descent ot the southern chain bounding tlie im- 
mense basin ot the Llanos. This latter chain, which also 
bears tho name of the Inland Mountains, is much lower 
than the northern chain; and I can hardly believe that the 
bim-ra de Guayraima attains the height of 1200 toises. 
Ihe two partial chains, that of the interior, and that 
only 44-5®, and the bubbles of air which are disengaged at intervals are 
at Onoto, as wdl as in the thermal waters of jfariara! purfmt oge , 
The waters of Mariara (244 toises) have a faint smell of sulphuretted 
aJw r’h leave, by evaporation, aslight residuum , that yields carbonic 
am^il m ’""Snesia, and lime. The quantities are so 
small that the water is altogether without taste. In the course of my 
““'y t*'® springs of Cumangillas hotter than the thermal 
rllu Trincheras: tl.ey are situated on the south of Porto 
Cabello. The wateis of Conuingillas are at the height of 1040 toises, 
^d^are alike remarkable for their purity, and their temperature of 96-3” 
Pyrenes Caracas is only 80 toises lower than the Cauigou in the 
