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The fine saussurite which we saw in the Upper Orinoco in the hands of the Indians, seems to indicate the existence of a soil of euphotide, superposed on gneiss-granite, or amphibolic slate, in the eastern part of the Sierra Parime. The Morros of San Juan rise like ruinous towers in a soil of diorite.
It appeared to me, that it was proper to fix the attention of the reader on these singular inflexions of the Orinoco because, belonging at once to two basins, its course marks, in some sort, even on the most imperfect maps, the direction of that part of the plains intervening between New Grenada and the western border of the mountains of La Parime.
These limits are marked by a ridge which divides the waters between the Orinoco and the Rio Negro, a tributary stream of the Amazon. The rising of a counter-slope almost imperceptible to the eye, forms a ridge that seems to join the eastern Cordillera of the Andes to the group of the Parime. In the Llanos, consequently, it follows the parallels of 20 degrees 30 minutes and 2 degrees 45 minutes.
In the Sierra Parime, mica-slate predominates only in the most eastern part, where its lustre has led to strange errors. The amphibolic slate of Angostura, and masses of diorite in balls, with concentric layers, near Muitaco, appear to be superposed, not on mica-slate, but immediately on gneiss-granite.
The ground, which is perfectly level between the Guaviare, the Meta, and the Apure, displays no vestige of a violent irruption of the waters; but on the edge of the Cordillera of Parime, between the latitudes of 4 and 7 degrees, the Orinoco, flowing in a westerly direction from its source to the mouth of the Guaviare, has forced its way through the rocks, directing its course from south to north.
Ponce and his companions believed in its existence as firmly as, some years later, Ferdinand Pizarro believed in the existence of El Dorado and the golden lake of Parimé. The expedition touched at Guanakáni on the 14th of March, and on the 27th discovered what Ponce believed to be the island of which he was in search. On April 2d Ponce landed and took possession in the king's name.
While I admit the difficulty of properly defining the groups of mountains and the basins or continuous plains, I have attempted to calculate their surfaces according to the statements contained in the preceding sheets. MOUNTAINOUS PART: Andes : 58,900. Littoral Chain of Venezuela : 1,900. Sierra Nevada de Merida : 200. Group of the Parime : 25,800. System of the Brazil mountains : 27,600.
Had they received them from the north, that is, from the country pointed out by the Indians of the Rio Negro, which extends from the mountains of Cayenne towards the sources of the Essequibo, the Carony, the Orinoco, the Parime, and the Rio Trombetas? or did they come from the south by the Rio Topayos, which descends from the vast table-land of the Campos Parecis?
After twenty days' navigating they convey their canoes by a portage of one day, from the river Dessekebe to a lake, which the Jaos call Roponowini, and the Caribbees Parime.
In that part of South America situated on the east of the Andes we have successively examined three systems of mountains, those of the shore of Venezuela, of the Parime and Brazil: we have seen that this mountainous region, which equals the Cordillera of the Andes, not in mass, but in area and horizontal section of surface, is three times less elevated, much less rich in precious metals adhering to the rock, destitute of recent traces of volcanic fire and, with the exception of the coast of Venezuela, little exposed to the violence of earthquakes.
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