Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 3 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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The Eastern Basin Of The
Cordillera Of Venezuela Is Not Shut Up Like The Basin Of Valencia.
It
is in the knot of the mountains of Las Cocuyzas, and of Higuerote,
that the Serrania de los Teques and Oripoto, stretching eastward, form
two valleys, those of the Rio Guayre and Rio Tuy; the former contains
the town of Caracas and both unite below the Caurimare.
The Rio Tuy
runs through the rest of the basin, from west to east, as far as its
mouth which is situated on the north of the mountains of Panaquire.
Cape Codera seems to terminate the northern range of the littoral
mountains of Venezuela but this termination is only apparent. The
coast forms a vast nook, thirty-five sea leagues in length, at the
bottom of which is the mouth of the Rio Unare and the road of Nueva
Barcelona. Stretching first from west to east, in the parallel of 10
degrees 37 minutes, this coast recedes at the parallel 10 degrees 6
minutes, and resumes its original direction (10 degrees 37 minutes to
10 degrees 44 minutes) from the western extremity of the peninsula of
Araya to the eastern extremities of Montana de Paria and the island of
Trinidad. From this dissection of the coast it follows that the range
of mountains bordering the shore of the provinces of Caracas and
Barcelona, between the meridian 66 degrees 32 minutes and 68 degrees
29 minutes (which I saw on the south of the bay of Higuerote and on
the north of the Llanos of Pao and Cachipo), must be considered as the
continuation of the southern chain of Venezuela and as being linked on
the west with the Sierras de Panaquire and Ocumare. It may therefore
be said that between Cape Codera and Cariaco the inland chain itself
forms the coast. This range of very low mountains, often interrupted
from the mouth of the Rio Tuy to that of the Rio Neveri, rises
abruptly on the east of Nueva Barcelona, first in the rocky island of
Chimanas, and then in the Cerro del Bergantin, elevated probably more
than 800 toises, but of which the astronomical position and the
precise height are yet alike unknown. On the meridian of Cumana the
northern chain (that of Cape Codera and the Silla of Caracas) again
appears. The micaceous slate of the peninsula of Araya and Maniquarez
joins by the ridge or knot of mountains of Meapire the southern chain,
that of Panaquire the Bergantin, Turimiquiri, Caripe and Guacharo.
This ridge, not more than 200 toises of absolute height, has, in the
ancient revolutions of our planet, prevented the irruption of the
ocean, and the union of the gulfs of Paria and Cariaco. On the west of
Cape Codera the northern chain, composed of primitive granitic rocks,
presents the loftiest summits of the whole Cordillera of Venezuela;
but the culminant points east of that cape are composed in the
southern chain of secondary calcareous rocks. We have seen above that
the peak of Turimiquiri, at the back of the Cocollar, is 1050 toises,
while the bottoms of the high valleys of the convent of Caripe and of
Guardia de San Augustin are 412 and 533 toises of absolute height.
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