mountains. These are not imbedded fragments, as at Greiffenstein in
Saxony, but aggregations of particles which seem to have been
subjected to partial attractions. I could not follow the line of
junction of the gneiss and granitic formations. According to angles
taken in the valleys of Aragua, the gneiss appears to descend below
the granite, which must consequently be of a more recent formation.
The appearance of a stratified granite excited my attention the more,
because, having had the direction of the mines of Fichtelberg in
Franconia for several years, I was accustomed to see granites divided
into ledges of three or four feet thick, but little inclined, and
forming masses like towers, or old ruins, at the summit of the highest
mountains.* (* At Ochsenkopf, at Rudolphstein, at Epprechtstein, at
Luxburg, and at Schneeberg. The dip of the strata of these granites of
Fichtelberg is generally only from 6 to 10 degrees, rarely (at
Schneeberg) 18 degrees. According to the dips I observed in the
neighbouring strata of gneiss and mica-slate, I should think that the
granite of Fichtelberg is very ancient, and serves as a basis for
other formations; but the strata of grunstein, and the disseminated
tin-ore which it contains, may lead us to doubt its great antiquity,
from the analogy of the granites of Saxony containing tin.)

The heat became stifling as we approached the coast. A reddish vapour
veiled the horizon. It was near sunset, and the breeze was not yet
stirring. We rested in the lonely farms known under the names of the
Hato de Cambury and the house of the Canarian (Casa del Isleno). The
river of hot water, along the banks of which we passed, became deeper.
A crocodile, more than nine feet long, lay dead on the strand. We
wished to examine its teeth, and the inside of its mouth; but having
been exposed to the sun for several weeks, it exhaled a smell so fetid
that we were obliged to relinquish our design and remount our horses.