292 VENEZUELA prevailing winds by the Paraguand peninsula, forms a vast and commodious haven. Of the 32 ports, those of La Guayra and Puerto Cabello are most frequented by foreign shipping. The fortifications of La Guayra have been lately restored, and are to be supplied with a com- plete armament. Cumana, at the mouth of the gulf of Cariaco, is well sheltered and defended, as is also the less important port of Barcelona, on the banks and near the mouth of the Neveri. The harbor of Coro, though much exposed, is the seat of an active trade with the West Indies; but this port and that of Maracaybo on the gulf of that name were in 1875 closed to foreign traffic, and vessels to and from them are now entered and cleared at Puerto Cabello. Ciudad Bolivar (formerly Angostura), on the Orinoco, 240 m. from the sea, is the entrepot for the products of all the regions drained by that river and its more important affluents, two of which, the Meta and Apure, are navi- gated by steam. No fewer than 71 islands fringe the coast, the largest being that of Mar- garita, which constitutes a Btate, and all being of volcanic origin except those in the vari- ous river mouths and in the outlet of Lake Maracaybo, which are accumulations of mud or sand. The larger islands after Margarita are Chimana, Caraca, and Borracha off the Barce- lona coast ; Tortuga, further seaward ; Orchila or Orchilla, affording large quantities of the dye of that name ; the Roques and Aves, west of Orchilla ; and Blanca, due N. from Marga- rita. Nearly all these islands are inhabited by large numbers of goats. About 107,000 sq. m. of the republic are occupied by mountains, forming two separate systems. The first is a ramification of the Colombian Andes, which bifurcate in the node or knot of Pamplona, lat. 7 15' N., Ion. 73 W. One branch runs N. to lat. 10 50', then curves N. E. and terminates in Cape Chichibacoa at the N. E. extremity of the Goajira peninsula. From Pamplona to the Venezuelan frontier, lat. 9 N., it is called the Sierra de Ocafia ; thence to Goajira, Sierra de Perija, a range which nowhere attains a height of 5,000 ft. ; and in the peninsula it receives the name of Oca mountains. The last two ranges form the N. W. boundary line with Colombia. The other and principal branch, comprising the great alpine region proper of the republic, trends N. E. to the snowy mountains of Merida, which, gradually declining toward tho Pdramo de las Rosas in the hilly districts of Tocuyo and Quibor, sink on the right bank of the Rio Cojedes S. of Barquisimeto. On the opposite bank of that stream the chain again rises ab- ruptly toward Puerto Cabello, whence, under the name of Venezuela Coast chain, it extends like a wall uninterruptedly E. to the promon- tory of Paria, with a mean elevation of but 4,800 ft. ; the two loftiest summits, the Silla de Caracas and the Picacho de Naiguata, reach- ing respectively 8^547 ft. and 9,100 ft. This marginal chain is divided into many ranges enclosing numerous fine valleys, as that of Aragua, which yields the indigo and other tropical plants and European wheat in great abundance. The Merida mountains, with a mean altitude of 6,000 ft., comprise 31 sum- mits exceeding 10,000 ft., the loftiest of which are the two peaks of the Sierra Nevada, 15,- 066 (the culminating point of Venezuela) and 15,000 ft. The second system is that of the Parima or Parime mountains, extending over the whole southern division of the Orinoco basin, still but little known. To this system belongs the Sierra de Pacaraima, forming a part of the southern boundary of the republic. The other principal ranges, mostly extending N. "W. between the Pacaraima chain and the Orinoco, are those of Parima (highest summit, 7,608 ft.), Maraguaca (8,151 ft.), Maigualida, Chuchivero, Guachimacari, Cuneva, Guayapu, Sipapo, Cerbatana, Rinocote, Carapo, Imataca, and Upata. Chief among the isolated peaks is the Duida mountain, between the Sierra de Pa- rima and the upper Orinoco, with an elevation of 8,823 ft. (See DUIDA.) Upward of 1,000 rivers drain the territory of Venezuela, all but 12 of which have their entire course within its limits. The Orinoco, ranking third among the rivers of South America, has a course of 1,500 m., pours into the ocean by 17 mouths tho wa- ters of over 400 navigable tributary streams, and drains a region of 250,000 sq. m. (See ORINOCO.) The Rio Negro, rising in Colombia, flows through the S. *W. corner of Venezuela, receiving an extensive tribute from the Ori- noco by tho Cassiquiare, whereby navigable communication is established between the Ori- noco and Amazon. Into the Caribbean sea and the gulfs of Venezuela and Paria flow 230 riv- ers, the largest of which are the Tuy, Tocuyo, and Unare, and 400 minor streams; and into the lake of Maracaybo about 500, of which only 100 are perennial. Venezuela contains over 200 lakes and lagoons. The most interesting lake is that of Valencia, the Tacarigua of the Indians, bounding the southern margin of the delightful valley of Aragua, and 1,699 ft. above the sea. From excessive evaporation its isl- ands, now 22 in number, continually increase in size, and since tho beginning of the present century several sand banks have become true islands, called aparecidaa (newly appeared). The lake contains several species of fish pecu- liar to itself. The principal lagoons are those of Maracaybo (called also lake) in tho state of Zulia, nearly 100 m. long, with a maximum breadth of 75 m. ; Unare, separated from the sea by a sandy tongue of land, where ex- cellent salt is produced; Taiguaiguai, Palma- nanita, Encantada, Gacasonica, with an outlet to the sea and navigable by schooners, and Lagunillas in Merida, famous for its urao (ses- quicarbonate of soda, or the trona of com- merce). Most of the smaller lagoons become altogether dry in summer. The geology of Venezuela has been but little studied, save in the portions visited by Humboldt and Schom- burgk. The northern branch of the Andes, and
