Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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To The West Of Cariaco Extends The Wide Gulf; Which A
Wall Of Rock Separates From The Ocean:
And towards the east are
seen, like bluish clouds, the high mountains of Paria and Areo.
This is one of the most extensive and magnificent prospects that
can be enjoyed on the coast of New Andalusia.
In the town of
Cariaco we found a great part of the inhabitants suffering from
intermittent fever; a disease which in autumn assumes a formidable
character. When we consider the extreme fertility of the
surrounding plains, their moisture, and the mass of vegetation with
which they are covered, we may easily conceive why, amidst so much
decomposition of organic matter, the inhabitants do not enjoy that
salubrity of air which characterizes the climate of Cumana.
The chain of calcareous mountains of the Brigantine and the
Cocollar sends off a considerable branch to the north, which joins
the primitive mountains of the coast. This branch bears the name of
Sierra de Meapire; but towards the town of Cariaco it is called
Cerro Grande de Curiaco. Its mean height did not appear to be more
than 150 or 200 toises. It was composed, where I could examine it,
of the calcareous breccias of the sea-coast. Marly and calcareous
beds alternate with other beds containing grains of quartz. It is a
very striking phenomenon for those who study the physical aspect of
a country, to see a transverse ridge connect at right angles two
parallel ridges, of which one, the more southern, is composed of
secondary rocks, and the other, the more northern, of primitive
rocks. The latter presents, nearly as far as the meridian of
Carupano, only mica-slate; but to the east of this point, where it
communicates by a transverse ridge (the Sierra de Meapire) with the
limestone range, it contains lamellar gypsum, compact limestone,
and other rocks of secondary formation. It might be supposed that
the southern ridge has transferred these rocks to the northern
chain.
When standing on the summit of the Cerro del Meapire, we see the
mountain currents flow on one side to the gulf of Paria, and on the
other to the gulf of Cariaco. East and west of the ridge there are
low and marshy grounds, spreading out without interruption; and if
it be admitted that both gulfs owe their origin to the sinking of
the earth, and to rents caused by earthquakes, we must suppose that
the Cerro de Meapire has resisted the convulsive movements of the
globe, and hindered the waters of the gulf of Paria from uniting
with those of the gulf of Cariaco. But for this rocky dyke, the
isthmus itself in all probability would have had no existence; and
from the castle of Araya as far as Cape Paria, the whole mass of
the mountains of the coast would have formed a narrow island,
parallel to the island of Santa Margareta, and four times as long.
Not only do the inspection of the ground, and considerations
deduced from its relievo, confirm these opinions; but a mere glance
of the configuration of the coasts, and a geological map of the
country, would suggest the same ideas. It would appear that the
island of Margareta has been heretofore attached to the coast-chain
of Araya by the peninsula of Chacopata and the Caribbee islands,
Lobo and Coche, in the same manner as this chain is still connected
with that of the Cocollar and Caripe by the ridge of Meapire.
At present we perceive that the humid plains which stretch east and
west of the ridge, and which are improperly called the valleys San
Bonifacio and Cariaco, are enlarging by gaining on the sea. The
waters are receding, and these changes of the shore are very
remarkable, more particularly on the coast of Cumana. If the level
of the soil seem to indicate that the two gulfs of Cariaco and
Paria formerly occupied a much more considerable space, we cannot
doubt that at present the land is progressively extending. Near
Cumana, a battery, called La Boca, was built in 1791 on the very
margin of the sea; in 1799 we saw it very far inland. At the mouth
of the Rio Neveri, near the Morro of Nueva Barcelona, the retreat
of the waters is still more rapid. This local phenomenon is
probably assignable to accumulations of sand, the progress of which
has not yet been sufficiently examined. Descending the Sierra de
Meapire, which forms the isthmus between the plains of San
Bonifacio and Cariaco, we find towards the east the great lake of
Putacuao, which communicates with the river Areo, and is four or
five leagues in diameter. The mountainous lands that surround this
basin are known only to the natives. There are found those great
boa serpents known to the Chayma Indians by the name of guainas,
and to which they fabulously attribute a sting under the tail.
Descending the Sierra de Meapire to the west, we find at first a
hollow ground (tierra hueca) which, during the great earthquakes of
1766, threw out asphaltum enveloped in viscous petroleum. Farther
on, a numberless quantity of sulphureous thermal springs* are seen
issuing from the soil (* El Llano de Aguas calientes,
east-north-east of Cariaco, at the distance of two leagues.); and
at length we reach the borders of the lake of Campoma, the
exhalations from which contribute to the insalubrity of the climate
of Cariaco. The natives believe that the hollow is formed by the
engulfing of the hot springs; and, judging from the sound heard
under the hoofs of the horses, we must conclude that the
subterranean cavities are continued from west to east nearly as far
as Casanay, a length of three or four thousand toises. A little
river, the Rio Azul, runs through these plains which are rent into
crevices by earthquakes. These earthquakes have a particular centre
of action, and seldom extend as far as Cumana. The waters of the
Rio Azul are cold and limpid; they rise on the western declivity of
the mountain of Meapire, and it is believed that they are augmented
by infiltrations from the lake Putacuao, situated on the other side
of the chain.
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