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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This Direction Is Also Most Common In The
Primitive Formations In The Peninsula Of Araya, And Along The
Coasts Of Venezuela.
On the northern declivity of the Imposible,
near the Penas Negras, an abundant spring issues from sandstone,
which alternates with a schistose clay.
We remarked on this point
fractured strata, which lie from north-west to south-east, and the
dip of which is almost perpendicular.
The Llaneros, or inhabitants of the plains, send their produce,
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 neglect, when they travel, to extinguish the fires by
which they have dressed their food. These accidents contribute to
diminish the number of old trees in the road from 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 place by
the passage of Fomalhaut over the meridian; but the observation was
lost, owing to the time I employed in taking the level of the
artificial horizon.
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