210 
NOCTUBXAL FIBE8. 
post consisting of eiglit men, under the command of a Spanish 
seijeant. It was an hospital, built by the side of a powder- 
magazine. When Cumana, after the capture of Trinidad by 
the English, in 1797, was threatened with an attack, many 
of the inhabitants fled to Cumanacoa, and deposited what- 
ever articles of value they possessed in sheds hastily con- 
structed on the top of the Imposible. It was then resolved, 
in ease of any unforeseen invasion, to abandon the castle of 
San Antonio, after a short resistance, and to concentrate the 
whole force of the province round the mountains, which may 
be considered as the key of the Llanos. 
The top of the Imposible, as nearly as I could perceive, is 
covered with a quartzose sandstone, free from petrifactions. 
Here, as on the ridge of the neighbouring mountains, the 
strata pretty regularly take the direction from N. N. E. 
to S. S. W. This direction is also most common in the 
primitive formations in the peninsula of A ray a, and alon" the 
coasts of Venezuela. On the northern declivity of the Im- 
posible, near the Pefias Negras, an abundant spring issues 
from sandstone, which alternates with a schistose clay. We 
remarked on this point fractured strata, which lie from KW.. 
to S. E., and the dip of which is almost perpendicular. 
The Ilaneros, or inhabitants of the plains, send their pro- 
duce, especially maize, leather, and cattle, to the port of 
Cumana by the road over the Imposible. We continually 
saw mules arrive, driven by Indians or mulattoes. Several 
parts of the vast forests which surround the mountain, had 
taken fire. Reddish flames, half enveloped in clouds of smoke, 
presented a very grand spectacle. The inhabitants set fire 
to the forests, to improve the pasturage, and to destroy the 
shrubs that choke the grass. Enormous conflagrations, too, 
are often caused by the carelessness of the Indians, who neg- 
lect, when they travel, to extinguish the fires by which they 
have dressed their food. These accidents contribute to di- 
minish the number of old trees in the road irom Cumana to 
Cumanacoa; and the inhabitants observe justly, that, in 
several parts of their province, the dryness has increased, not 
only because every year the frequency of earthquakes causes 
more crevices in the soil ; but also because it is now less 
thickly wooded than it was at the time of the conquest. 
I arose during the night to determine the latitude of the 
