This is the mine of chapapote or mineral tar of the
country. I was assured that in the months of March and June the
eruptions are often attended with violent explosions, smoke, and
flames. Almost on the same parallel, and also in the sea, but
westward of the island (near Punta de la Brea, and to the south of
the port of Naparaimo), we find a similar vent. On the neighbouring
coast, in a clayey ground, appears the celebrated lake of asphaltum
(Laguna de la Brea), a marsh, the waters of which have the same
temperature as the atmosphere. The small cones situated at the
south-western extremity of the island, between Point Icacos and the
Rio Erin, appear to have some analogy with the volcanoes of air and
mud which I met with at Turbaco in the kingdom of New Grenada. I
mention these situations of asphaltum on account of the remarkable
circumstances peculiar to them in these regions; for I am not
unaware that naphtha, petroleum, and asphaltum are found equally in
volcanic and secondary regions,* and even more frequently in the
latter. (* The inflammable emanations of Pietra Mala, (consisting
of hydrogen gas containing naphtha in a state of suspension) issue
from the Alpine limestone, which may be traced from Covigliano to
Raticofa, and which lies on ancient sandstone near Scarica l'Asino.
Under this sandstone (old red sandstone) we find black transition
limestone and the grauwack (quartzose psammite) of Florence.)
Petroleum is found floating on the sea thirty leagues north of
Trinidad, around the island of Grenada, which contains an
extinguished crater and basalts.
2. Hot Springs of Irapa, at the north-eastern extremity of New
Andalusia, between Rio Caribe, Soro, and Yaguarapayo.
3. Air-volcano, or Salce, of Cumacatar, to the south of San Jose
and Carupano, near the northern coast of the continent, between La
Montana de Paria and the town of Cariaco. Almost constant
explosions are felt in a clayey soil, which is affirmed to be
impregnated with sulphur. Hot sulphureous waters gush out with such
violence that the ground is agitated by very sensible shocks. It is
said that flames have been frequently seen issuing out since the
great earthquake of 1797. These facts are well worthy of being
examined.
4. Petroleum-spring of the Buen Pastor, near Rio Areo. Large masses
of sulphur have been found in clayey soils at Guayuta, as in the
valley of San Bonifacio, and near the junction of the Rio Pao with
the Orinoco.
5. The Hot Waters (Aguas Calientes) south of the Rio Azul, and the
Hollow Ground of Cariaco, which, at the time of the great
earthquake of Cumana, threw up sulphuretted water and viscous
petroleum.
6. Hot waters of the gulf of Cariaco.
7. Petroleum-spring in the same gulf, near Maniquarez. It issues
from mica-slate.
8. Flames issuing from the earth, near Cumana, on the banks of the
Manzanares, and at Mariguitar, on the southern coast of the gulf of
Cariaco, at the time of the great earthquake of 1797.
9. Igneous phenomena of the mountain of Cuchivano, near Cumanacoa.
10. Petroleum-spring gushing from a shoal to the north of the
Caracas Islands. The smell of this spring warns ships of the danger
of this shoal, on which there is only one fathom of water.
11. Thermal springs of the mountain of the Brigantine, near Nueva
Barcelona. Temperature 43.2 degrees (centigrade).
12. Thermal springs of Provisor, near San Diego, in the province of
New Barcelona.
13. Thermal springs of Onoto, between Turmero and Maracay, in the
valleys of Aragua, west of Caracas.
14. Thermal springs of Mariara, in the same valleys. Temperature
58.9 degrees.
15. Thermal springs of Las Trincheras, between Porto Cabello and
Valencia, issuing from granite like those of Mariara, and forming a
river of warm water (Rio de Aguas Calientes). Temperature 90.4
degrees.
16. Boiling springs of the Sierra Nevada of Merida.
17. Aperture of Mena, on the borders of Lake Maracaybo. It throws
up asphaltum, and is said to emit gaseous emanations, which ignite
spontaneously, and are seen at a great distance.
These are the springs of petroleum and of thermal waters, the
igneous meteors, and the ejections of muddy substances attended
with explosions, of which I acquired a knowledge in the vast
provinces of Venezuela, whilst travelling over a space of two
hundred leagues from east to west. These various phenomena have
occasioned great excitement among the inhabitants since the
catastrophes of 1797 and 1812: yet they present nothing which
constitutes a volcano, in the sense hitherto attributed to that
word. If the apertures, which throw up vapours and water with
violent noise, be sometimes called volcancitos, it is only by such
of the inhabitants as persuade themselves that volcanoes must
necessarily exist in countries so frequently exposed to
earthquakes. Advancing from the burning crater of St. Vincent in
the directions of south, west and south-west, first by the chain of
the Caribbee Islands, then by the littoral chain of Cumana and
Venezuela, and finally by the Cordilleras of New Grenada, along a
distance of three hundred and eighty leagues, we find no active
volcano before we arrive at Purace, near Popayan. The total absence
of apertures, through which melted substances can issue, in that
part of the continent, which stretches eastward of the Cordillera
of the Andes, and eastward of the Rocky Mountains, is a most
remarkable geological fact.
In this chapter we have examined the great commotions which from
time to time convulse the stony crust of the globe, and scatter
desolation in regions favoured by the most precious gifts of
nature.
