JOHNSTON: FLORA OF MARGARITA ISLAND. 289 
kilometer the beach extends eastward, still a dazzling white. In one 
portion of the lake, the bottom is covered with a pink animal growth 
while the rest is a clear blue The presence of quicksands prevented 
any close examination of the lake. 
Inland from the beach on this end the hills rise gradually and are 
rounded. In general, the hilltops are hard, covered with loose stone 
and sand. A few hilltops are entirely without soil, merely a mass of 
loose broken fragments of rock with no vegetation. The surface 
inland is rolling, there being no level surface of any extent. From the 
hilltops to the hollows or small valleys, the surface gradually gets 
sandier until at the bottom it is a clear stretch of sand free from any 
stones. 
The seashore on the southwest side presents a contrast to that on the 
wxst. The beach is about a meter in width for three kilometers or 
more, and gravel and stony cliffs rise abruptly to the height of twenty- 
five or thirty meters. From the top of the cliffs the inland surface 
does not rise over thirty meters higher. About three kilometers from 
San Pedro the cliffs are lower, and here show abundance of hard rock. 
The lower part of the cliff and also huge boulders broken off are 
smoothly worn and dark red or brown in color. At the eastern ex- 
tremity of the south shore, the beach stretches to the southwest in a 
long narrow spit of land. 
The total length of the island is about twelve kilometers, and breadth 
three kilometers. From almost any of its hills can be seen INlargarita, 
at the nearest point within eight kilometers; and to the south the high 
mountain ranges show distinctly on the mainland about twenty-four 
kilometers away. The village of San Pedro is composed entirely of 
homes of ordinary fishermen and of the pearl fishers. There is a 
church, a graveyard, and seventy-five to a hundred houses besides sev- 
eral stores. The eastern extremity of the island is used for the pearl- 
fishing business but there is no village there. 
No mention of rain on the island has been made because the existence 
of any at any time was not apparent. The natives claimed there 
never was any. As a matter of fact at the time of this visit there was a 
slight mist in the afternoon during the passing of a heavy thunder- 
storm on the coast of the mainland. This mist was barely perceptible 
and of course not sufficient to furnish water in any quantity. No 
streams or springs exist on the island. The unweathered condition of 
the rocks suggests the great lack of rain, while the presence of the sand 
