Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 2 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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This Phenomenon, The Existence Of Which Is Borne Out By
Concurrent Testimony, Has Caused This Mountain To Be Improperly Called
A Volcano.
As it stands nearly alone, it might be supposed that
lightning from time to time sets fire to the brushwood; but this
supposition loses its probability when we reflect on the extreme
difficulty with which plants are ignited in these damp climates.
It
must be observed also that these flames are said to appear often where
the rock seems scarcely covered with turf, and that the same igneous
phenomena are visible, on days entirely exempt from storms, on the
summit of Guaraco or Murcielago, a hill opposite the mouth of the Rio
Tamatama, on the southern bank of the Orinoco. This hill is scarcely
elevated one hundred toises above the neighbouring plains. If the
statements of the natives be correct, it is probable that some
subterraneous cause produces these flames on the Duida and the
Guaraco; for they never appear on the lofty neighbouring mountains of
Jao and Maraguaca, so often wrapped in electric storms. The granite of
the Cerro Duida is full of veins, partly open, and partly filled with
crystals of quartz and pyrites. Gaseous and inflammable emanations,
either of hydrogen or of naphtha, may pass through these veins. Of
this the mountains of Caramania, of Hindookho, and of Himalaya,
furnish frequent examples. We saw the appearance of flames in many
parts of eastern America subject to earthquakes, even from secondary
rocks, as at Cuchivero, near Cumanacoa.
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