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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The Melastoma Guacito,*
(* Melastoma Xanthostachys, Called Guacito At Caracas.) And A
Shrub, The Large And Tough Leaves Of Which Rustle Like Parchment*
When Shaken By The Winds, (* Palicourea Rigida, Chaparro Bovo.
In
the savannahs, or llanos, the same Castilian name is given to a
tree of the family of the proteaceae.) rise here and there in the
savannah.
But the principal ornament of the turf of these mountains
is a liliaceous plant with golden flowers, the Marica
martinicensis. It is generally observed in the province of Cumana
and Caracas only at 400 or 500 toises of elevation.* (* For
example, in the Montana de Avila, on the road from Caracas to La
Guayra, and in the Silla de Caracas. The seeds of the marica are
ripe at the end of December.) The whole rocky mass of the
Turimiquiri is composed of an alpine limestone, like that of
Cumanacoa, and a pretty thin strata of marl and quartzose
sandstone. The limestone contains masses of brown oxidated iron and
carbonate of iron. I have observed in several places, and very
distinctly, that the sandstone not only reposes on the limestone,
but that this last rock frequently includes and alternates with the
sandstone.
We distinguished clearly the round summit of the Turimiquiri and
the lofty peaks or, as they are called, the Cucuruchos, covered
with thick vegetation, and infested by tigers which are hunted for
the beauty of their skin. This round summit, which is covered with
turf, is 707 toises above the level of the ocean.
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