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 Littoral Chain Of Venezuela Presents Towards The Centre And The
East The Same Phenomena Of Structure As Those Observed In The Andes Of
Peru And New Grenada; Namely, The Division Into Several Parallel
Ranges And The Frequency Of Longitudinal Basins Or Valleys.
But the
irruptions of the Caribbean Sea having apparently overwhelmed, at a
very remote period, a part of the mountains of the shore, the ranges
or partial chains are interrupted and some basins have become oceanic
gulfs.
To comprehend the Cordillera of Venezuela in mass we must
carefully study the direction and windings of the coast from Punta
Tucacas (west of Porto Cabello) as far as Punta de la Galera of the
island of Trinidad. That island, those of Los Testigos, Marguerita and
Tortuga constitute, with the mica-slates of the peninsula of Araya,
one and the same system of mountains. The granitic rocks which appear
between Buria, Duaca and Aroa cross the valley of the Rio Yaracui and
draw near the shore, whence they extend, like a continuous wall, from
Porto Cabello to Cape Codera. This prolongation forms the northern
chain of the Cordillera of Venezuela and is traversed in going from
south to north, either from Valencia and the valleys of Aragua, to
Burburata and Turiamo, or from Caracas to La Guayra. Hot springs*
issue from those mountains (* The other hot springs of the Cordillera
of the shore are those of San Juan, Provisor, Brigantin, the gulf of
Cariaco, Cumucatar and Irapa. MM. Rivero and Boussingault, who visited
the thermal waters of Mariara in February, 1823, during their journey
from Caracas to Santa Fe de Bogota, found their maximum to be 64
degrees centigrade.
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