by a singular similitude, under the influence of an atmosphere continually loaded with vapours, as in the north of Europe* on a soil moistened by melting snows, the vegetation of the mountains offers the same aspect, as characterises the vegetation of marshes.

Before we leave the plains of Cumana, and the breccia, or calcareous sand-stone, which constitutes the soil of the seaside, we will notice the different strata, of which this very recent formation is composed, such as we observed it on the back of the hills that surround the Castle of St. Antonio. This is so much the more indispensable, as we shall soon acquire the knowledge of other rocks, which may easily be confounded with the puddingstone of the coast. On advancing toward the interior of the continent, the geological view of those countries will unroll itself gradually before our eyes. -The breccia or calcareous sandstone, is a local and partial formation, peculiar to the peninsula of Araya †, the coasts of Cumana and Caraccas. We again found it at Cabo Blanco, to the west of the port of Guayra, where it contains, beside broken shells and madrepores, fragments, often angular, of quartz and gneiss. This cir

* Wahlenberg, de Vegetatione Helvetiæ, et summi Septemtrionis, p. xlvii and fix.

+ See Vol. ii, p. 263.

cumstance assimilates the breccia to that recent sandstone designated by the German mineralogists by the name of nagelfluhe, and which covers so great a part of Switzerland to the height of a thousand toises*, without presenting any trace of marine productions. Near Cumana the formation of the calcareous breccia contains, first a compact whitish gray limestone, the strata of which, sometimes horizontal, sometimes irregularly inclined, are from five to six inches thick. Some beds are almost unmixed with petrifactions, but in the greatest part the cardites, the turbinites, the ostracites, and shells of small dimensions, are found so closely connected, that the calcareous matter forms only a cement, by which the grains of quartz and the organized bodies are united: 2dly, a calcareous sandstone, in which the grains of sand are much more frequent than the petrified shells; other strata form a sandstone entirely free from organic fragments, yielding but a small effervescence with acids, and enclosing not lamellæ of mica, but nodules of compact brown iron ore: 3d, beds of indurated clay, which contain selenite and lamellar gypsum. These last beds present a great analogy with the muriatiferous clay of Punta Araya, and appear constantly inferior to the last strata.

* At the Hohgaut, that towers over the Emmethal. + At the north of St. Anthony's castle, very near Cumana.

The breccia, or agglomerate of the seacoast, which we have just described, has a white tint, and lies immediately on the calcareous formation of Cumanacoa, which is of a blueish gray. These two rocks form a contrast no less striking than the molasse (bur-stone) of the Pays de Vaud, with the calcareous limestone of the Jura*. It must be observed, that, by the contact of the two formations lying upon each other, the beds of the limestone of Cumanacoa, which I consider as an Alpine limestone, are always largely mixed with clay and marl. Lying like the mica-slate of Araya north-east and south-west, they are inclined, near Punta Delgada, under an angle of 60 degrees to the south

east.

We traversed the forest by a narrow path, and went along a rivulet, which rolls foaming over a bed of rocks. We observed, that the vegetation was every where more brilliant, where the Alpine limestone is covered by a quartzose sandstone without petrifactions, and very different from the breccia of the seacoast. The cause of this phenomenon depends probably not so much on the nature of the ground, as on the greater humidity of the soil. The quartzose sandstone contains thin strata of a

* For example, near Aaraw, Boudry, and Porentrui in Switzerland.

blackish clay-slate*, which might easily be confounded with the secondary thonschiefer ; and these strata hinder the water from filtering into the crevices, of which the Alpine limestone is full. This last offers to the view here, as in the country of Saltzburg, and on the chain of the Apennines, broken and steep beds. The sandstone, on the contrary, wherever it is seated on the calcareous rock, renders the appearance of the scene less savage. The hills which it forms appear more rounded, and the gentler slopes are covered with a thicker mould.

In those humid places, where the sandstone envelopes the Alpine limestone, some trace of cultivation is constantly found. We met with huts inhabited by mestizoes in the ravine of Los Frailes, as well as between the Cuesta of Caneyes, and the Rio Guriental. Each of these huts is placed in the centre of an enclosure, that contains plantains, papaw trees, sugarcanes, and maize. We might be surprised at the small extent of these cultivated spots, if we did not recollect, that an acre planted with plantains produces near twenty times as much food as the same space sown with corn. In Europe, our wheat, barley, and rye, cover vast spaces of ground; and in general the ara

Schieferthon.

+ Political Essay on New Spain, Vol. ii. p. 366. Musa paradisiaca.

ble lands touch each other, wherever the inhabitants live upon corn. It is not the same under the torrid zone, where man has been able to appropriate to himself plants, that yield more abundant and earlier harvests. In these happy climates, the fertility of the soil is proportioned to the heat and humidity of the atmosphere. An immense population finds abundant nourishment on a narrow space, covered with plantains, cassava, yams, and maize. The isolated situation of the huts dispersed through the forest indicates to the traveller the fecundity of nature, where a small spot of cultivated land suffices for the wants of several families.

These considerations on the agriculture of the torrid zone involuntarily remind us of the intimate connexion, that exists between the extent of land cleared, and the progress of society. That richness of the soil, that vigour of organic life, which multiply the means of subsistence, retard the progress of nations towards civilization. Under so mild and uniform a climate, the only urgent want of man is that of food. It is the feeling of this want only, which excites him to labour; and we may easily conceive, why in the midst of abundance, beneath the shade of the plantain and breadfruit tree, the intellectual faculties unfold themselves less rapidly than under a rigorous sky, in the region of corn, where our race is in a perpetual struggle