168 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
Physical Features. 
The island of Margarita as seen from the mainland thirty-two 
kilometers distant appears as two conical mountains separated by a 
long stretch of lowland. It may be seen on the accompanying map 
that it consists of two irregular polygonal areas connected by a narrow 
strip of land, each of these areas rising from the lowlands of the plain 
to the foothills and mountain ridge of the center, thus giving the 
conical appearance in the distance. 
Located about eleven degrees north, and sixty-four degrees west, 
Margarita is sixty-seven kilometers long and thirty-two wide. It is 
eleven kilometers from the desert islands Cubagua and Coche, and 
is the largest of the Venezuelan islands that extend along the coast 
from Cura^oa to Trinidad. The highest peaks of the two ends are 
about forty-two kilometers apart. The relative extent of plains, foot- 
hills, and mountains can best be understood by considering the two 
ends separately and in detail. 
The mountains of the eastern end rise to an altitude of 795 meters 
and have many spurs jutting out in different directions. Surrounding 
the mountain and its spurs are the valleys and plains which in some 
cases extend to the sea. On the eastern and northern sides are what 
may be termed outlying mountains which are less extensive than the 
central mountain mass, San Juan INIoimtain, and border directly on 
the sea. The top of San Juan jNIountain, between the altitudes 650 
and 795 meters, is destitute of trees. Bare rock ledges jut out from 
beneath the low shrubbery. Occasionally the summit is in clear 
sunshine, but quite as often the heavy clouds laden with moisture are 
rapidly flitting over, now completely enveloping it, and now exposing 
it to the warmth of the sun. Within thirty meters of the to}) is one 
spring on the El Valle side, and fifteen meters below that is another. 
Though these are entirely exposed they never seem to dry up. The 
dense woods which cover the mountains above 400 meters collect and 
retain the moisture of the clouds, thus together with the two springs 
furnishing a source for small streams below. 
On the map of the island it is shown that the mountain ridge as a 
whole not only extends from northeast to southwest, but also rises 
gradually from the west in a succession of hills to the highest point 
which is above El Valle and San Juan, thence lowering a little for a 
distance of one and one half kilometers, and then dropping abruptly 
