The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1896-03-26
RURAIMA A WONDERLAND:
The Mysterious Country Near the
SChomburgk Line.
From the Ne,U York Sun.

Perhaps one result of the
Venezuela Boundary Commits
sion's work will be the solving
of one of the most remarkable
geological enigmas in the world,
and the exploration OF what is
regarded as a unique natural
wonderland. This remarkable
region is a number of elevated
and isolated areas of land, Sit
uated on what the British call
British Guiana's southwestern
boundary, which is in the dis
puted territory. 1t is on the
British side of the Schomburgk
line. A British Guiana news
paper describes this region, as
far as it is known, and express
ses the hope that the final
settlement of the boundary con-
troversy will leave it well with
in British bounds. Should
there be another result, how
ever, the newspaper says, the
region should be made an inter
national park, something on
the plan of the Yellowstone
Park reservation.
The region is called by the
Indians "Roraima," but the sew
eral isolated areas are known
by distinctive names. Each
consists of what might be call
ed an isolated mountain, but
is really a. table land, compris-
ING an area of 100 or more
square miles, elevated several
thousand feet above the sur
rounding country. The rocky
sides of the mountains are as
perpendicular as the Hudson
River Palisades and entirely
bare of vegetation, and have
defed all attempts to scale
them. The level SUBMITS are
covered with trees and other
vegetation, and down the sides
fall large number of cascades
of considerable size, indicating
the certain existence of rivers
and streams on the mysterious
SUBMITS, and probably of lakes
that feed the rivers. The sum-
mits have been observed with
telescopes, and are known to be
as full of plant life as the trop-
ical plains below, but beyond
this nothing is known.
Because so little is known of
the condition of these table
lands occasion is given for all
manner of speculation as to
what exists there. The veget-
alton is quite different from
that on the plains below, the
telescope shows; and that it
should be so is quite natural,
as the table lands are 1000 or
more feet higher than the
plains. While the climate of
the plains is tropical, that of
the table lands mnst be tenn
perate, not only because of their
elevation, but also because of
the free play the winds have
about them.
Of the geology of the region
this explanation is given: This
part of South America rose
slowly from the sea, through
successive and remote ages.
The Roraima Mountains were
formed precisely as was the
rest of the land, and are not the
result of volcanic action. Hence,
they must have been above the
ocean long before the surround
ing plains appeared. They
stood 1000 feet above the sea
level when the neighboring
mountain tops were butislands
in the ocean. In the course of
d period, difficult to appreciate,
the adjacent valleys and plains
appeared above the water and
become covered with vegeta-
ton and animal life. But the
isolated plateaus of Roraima
had a tremendous start of the
plains below. Here comes the
alleged ground for the specula-
ton that perhaps on these
mysterious SUBMITS there exist
flora and fauna unlike any
found elsewhere, forms of life
that long since disappeared
from other parts of the world,
but remained the same on these
SUBMITS because unaffected by
the influences of communica-
ton with the outer world. All
sorts of wild guesses have been
hazarded regarding the exist
f 1k<