St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1904-09-10
INACCESSIBLE MOUNTAINS.
Interesting Discovery of sn English
Explorer in Southern Part
of Venezuela.

interesting discovery Oh Ell GuSAASA
Explorer in Southern, Part
of Venezuela.
A British naturalist named Andre
plunged, awhile ago, into the depths Of
the topical forest along the esaura river.
one Gf the large southern tributaries Of
the Grinoco. On account of its numer-
GUS falls and rapids the upper Caura il
very difficult of ascent; and what Andre
disccFered shows how little we know OF
cially of those covered with great forests
spreading away between the,equatorial
rivers. states the New YORK. Sun.
We had scarcely any idea Of the pla-
teaus he found ascending By succession
Of giant steps. The one nearest the
Orinoco rises abruptly fron an elevation
of 200 feet to 1000 feet apove the sea;
the next to 1900 feet. anf the third to
1000 feet at the foot ofsthe Merevari
range, Caura. The best maps before the
public give no idea Of the nature Of the
country through which the Caura flows
as Andre has just described and mapped
it in his book, "a Naturalist in the Gui-
anas"
The most interesting feature of his
work is the proof he brings that the So
called inaccessible mountains, precip-
itous and flat-topped, extend far and
wide over the southern part Of Venezue-
la. The best known of them is Roraima,
~, hA hot T0rs< oh r,.fn-
and Venezuela This giant, boxlike cube
of earth, far outtopping our Mount
Washington in altitude. is surrounded
by other similar masses; but it was not
known that these remarkable mountains
are scattered far to the west. Andre
discovered number of them over $50
miles to the west of Roraima. It is evil
dent that there is whole series of them
rising high above the level of the pla-
teau a little north of the water-parting
between the Orinoco and Amazon sys-
TENS
All of these mountains are Of the
same type, and the only important DIFF
ference between them seems to be that
they vary in size. Roraima has been
known for many years as presenting gun
common problems for geographers. In
appearance it Is most unusual; for it
IL practically cube OF rock, standing
apart, rising to height OF nearly 5000
fest, the upper 1000 of which is appar-
emily . precipice which was thought to
be impossibae of ascent. But Mr.. I'm
Thurn found way up the mountain in
1884, and three men have since reached
the summit, two OF them spending the
night on the surface Of the lofty pla-
teau. 81
These mountains, scattered far more
widely than was formerly supposed, ars
almost as remarkable an illustration of
the power of water in erosion az our
Colorado canyon. They are all that IL
left of very high sandstone plateau
THAT, countless ages ago. covered the
whole of this region, so that its surface
was much higher above the sea than 1t
Is: to-day. The many streams have cut
away nearly all Of, the plateau, leaving
OILY these strange mountains as memo
rails of the intellectually distant past.
AA SsOAy S0oS tA0 upper Qs4AlS VI lu0
walls are sheer precipices or nearly
SO; but the talus piled against the foot
has made slopes by which the eminences
may be partly ascentled. Only the top
OF Roraima has been reached Andre
spent days in the vain endeavor to get to
the summit of Amelia; and it is doubt
Ful If better success would have reward
ed him on the TANKS Of Arichi or Arawa.
None of the lofty peaks of the Column
ban Andes. he says, inspired him with
such sense of awe and helplessness as
when he looked up at these mighty and
uascalable walls.
Curiosity as to what would be found
az the top has been grattfled by the as
cents OF Roraima. The whole appear
aace of this II square miles OF surface
Is: weird and fantastic. Oblong stones
appear mounted like cannon; others on
sEort stems of rock have the appear
ace of umbrellas; still others resemble |
miniature castles or the ruins OF |
Churches. Small pools are scattered
hsre and there; but most OF the pre-
cfpitation is soon carried over the sides
lH splendid waterfalls There are q few
Butterflies and other insects, but the
vegetation is scanty and insignificant.
I.lis Is a bit Of nature that has had a
Glance to be modified by very few forms
Of animal life
Mortifvincr Thourh%