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 Saraguaca, Or Mountain
Of Uruana, Composed Of Detached Blocks Of Granite, May Be Regarded As
A Northern Spur Of
The chain of the Baraguan, stretching south-west
towards Siamacu and the mountains (latitude 5 degrees 50 minutes) that
separate
The sources of the Erevato and the Caura from those of the
Ventuari. Fifth. The chain of Carichana and of Paruaci (latitude 6
degrees 25 minutes), wild in aspect, but surrounded by charming
meadows. Piles of granite crowned with trees and insulated rocks of
prismatic form (the Mogote of Cocuyza and the Marimaruta or Castillito
of the Jesuits) belong to this chain. Sixth. On the western bank of
the Orinoco, which is low and flat, the Peak of Uniana rises abruptly
more than 3000 feet high. The spurs (latitude 5 degrees 35 minutes to
5 degrees 40 minutes) which this peak sends eastward are crossed by
the Orinoco in the first Great Cataract (that of Mapura or the
Atures); further on they unite together and, rising in a chain,
stretch towards the sources of the Cataniapo, the rapids of Ventuari,
situated on the north of the confluence of the Asisi (latitude 5
degrees 10 minutes) and the Cerro Cunevo. Seventh. Five leagues south
of the Atures is the chain of Quittuna, or of Maypures (latitude 15
degrees 13 minutes), which forms the bar of the Second Great Cataract.
None of those lofty summits are situated on the west of the Orinoco;
on the east of that river rises the Cunavami, the truncated peak of
Calitamini and the Jujamari, to which Father Gili attributes an
extraordinary height. Eighth. The last chain of the south-west part of
the Sierra Parime is separated by woody plains from the chain of
Maypures; it is the chain of the Cerros de Sipapo (latitude 4 degrees
50 minutes); an enormous wall behind which the powerful chief of the
Guaypunabi Indians intrenched himself during the expedition of Solano.
The chain of Sipapo may be considered as the beginning of the range of
lofty mountains which bound, at the distance of some leagues, the
right bank of the Orinoco, where that river runs from south-east to
north-west, between the mouth of the Ventuari, the Jao and the Padamo
(latitude 3 degrees 15 minutes). In ascending the Orinoco, above the
cataract of Maypures, we find, long before we reach the point where it
turns, near San Fernando del Atabapo, the mountains disappearing from
the bed of the river, and from the mouth of the Zama there are only
insulated rocks in the plains. The chain of Sipapo forms the
south-west limit of the system of mountains of Parime, between 70 1/2
and 68 degrees of longitude. Modem geologists have observed that the
culminant points of a group are less frequently found at its centre
than towards one of its extremities, preceding, and announcing in some
sort, a great depression* of the chain. (* As seen in Mont Blanc and
Chimborazo.) This phenomenon is again observed in the group of the
Parime, the loftiest summits of which, the Duida and the Maraguaca,
are in the most southerly range of mountains, where the plains of the
Cassiquiare and the Rio Negro begin.
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