The San Francisco call., 1905-02-19
FLAT MOUNTAIN
TOPS NUMEROUS
Strange Formations Cause
Region of Caura River
to Be Ranked as Unique
rs FAMOUS
Hundreds of Elevations Are
Crowned With Plateaus
Difficult of Approach

A British naturalist named Andre
plunged a while ago into the depths
of the tropical forest along the Caura
River, one of the large southern tribu-
taries of the Orinoco. On account Of
its numerous falls and rapids the Up
per Caura is very difficult of ascent.
and what Andre discovered shows how
little we know of large areas in South
America and especially Of those cover
ed with great forests spreading away
between the equatorial rivers.
We had scarcely any idea of the
plateaus he found ascending by sue
cession of giant steps. The one near
est the Orinoco rises abruptly from an
elevation of 200 feet to 1000 feet above
the sea; the next to 1900 feet and the
third to 1000 feet at the foot Of the
Merevari range, that limits the far
thest sources of the 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 1t in his
book, "A Naturalist in the Guianas.
The most interesting feature OF his
work is the proof he bring that the So
called inaccessible mountains, pre-
c;pitous and hat-topped, extend far
and wide over the southern part OF
Venezuela The best known Of them
is Roraima, on the border between
British Guiana and Venezuela.
This giant, boxlike cube OF earth.
far outtopping Mount Washington in
altitude, is surrounded by other SINH
lar masses, but IL was not known that
these remarkable mountains are scat
tered far to the west. Andre discov-
cred a number of them over $50 miles
to the west of Roraima. 1t is evident
that there is a whole series of them
rising high above the level of the
plateau a little north of the water
parting of the Orinoco and Amazon
systems.
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
uncommon problems for geographers-
In appearance it is most unusual, for 1t
is practically a cube of rock, standing
apart, rising to a height of nearly 5000
feet, the upper 1000 of which is appar-
entity a precipice which was thought to
be impossible of ascent. But 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 plateau.
These mountains, scattered far more
widely than was formerly supposed,
are almost as remarkable an illustra-
ton of the power Of water in erosions
as our Colorado Canyon. They are all
that is left of a very high sandstone
plateau that countless ages ago COW
cred the whole of this region, so that
its surface was much higher above the
sea than it is to-day. The many
streams have cut away nearly all of the
plateau, leaving only these strange
mountains as memorials of the incalcu-
lably distant past.
In every case the upper parts Of the
walls are sheer precipices, or nearly so,
but the talus piled against the foot has
made slopes by which the eminences
may be partly ascended. Only the top
Of Roraima has been reached. Andre
spent DAYS in the vain endeavor to get
TO the summit Of Ameha, and it is
doubtful If better success would have
rewarded him on the fianks of Arichi or
Arawa.
None Of the lofty peaks Of the Colom-
bian Andes, he says, inspired him with
such sense of awe and helplessness
as when he looked up at the mighty
and rnSca1able walls.
Curiosity as to what would be found
at the top has been gratified by the
ascents of Roraima- The whole ap-
pearance of this twelve square miles OF
surface is weird and fantastic. Oblong
stones appear mounted like cannon;
others on short stems of rock have the
appearance of umbrellas: still others
resemble miniature castles or the ruins
of churches Small pools are scattered
here and there, but most of the pre-
cipitation is soon carried over the sides
in splendid waterfalls. There are a few
butterflies and other insects, but the
vegetation is scanty and Insignificant.
This is a bit Of nature that has had a
chance to be modified by very few Of
the forms of animal life.-New York
Sun.