THE TABLE LANDS OF VENEZUELA.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVII, Issue I, 4 July 1896, Page 4

THE TABLE LANDS OF VENEZUELA.

Perhaps one result of the Venezuela boundary commission's work will be the solving of one of the most remarkable geographical 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, situated on what the British call British Guiana's southwestern boundary, which is in the disputed territory. It is on the British side of the Schomburgk line. The region is called by the Indians * Roraima,’ but the several isolated areas are known by distinctive names. Each consists of what might be called an isolated mountain, but is really a table land, comprising an area of too or more square miles, elevated several thousand feet above the surrounding country. The rocky sides of the mountains are bare of vegetation, and have defied all attempts to scale them. The level summits are covered with trees and other vegetation, and down the rocky sides fall a large number of cascades of considerable size, indicating the certain existence of rivers and streams on

the mysterious summits. The summits have been observed with telescopes and are known to be as full of plant life as the tropical 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. That the vegetation 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 2.000 feet higher than the plains. While the climate of the plains is tropical, that of the table lands must be temperate, 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 st a, 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 surrounding plains appeared. They stood 2.000 feet above the sea level wfien the neighbouring mountain tops were islands in the ocean. In the course of a period, difficult to appreciate, the adjacent valleys and plains appeared above the water and became covered with vegetable and animal life But the isolated plateaus of Roraima had a tremendous start of the plains below. Here comes the alleged ground for the speculation that perhaps on these mysterious summits 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 summits because unaffected by the influences of communication with the outer world. All sorts of wild guesses have been hazarded regarding the existence of strange reptiles and animals among the streams and forests of Roraima. The cascades falling from the summits are among the highest in the world. One is 2,000 feet high and is broad enough to be visible thirty miles away. It falls sheer, without a break. The mountains from which these cascades fall form the dividing watersheds of the Amazon, the Orinoco, and the Essequibo, the three great rivers of South America, and the waters of the cascades flow some to one and some to another of these rivers. It is argued that to supply these waterfalls there must be a considerable body of water on the mountain plateaus, and it is natural to conclude that where there are large bodies of water there are fish and reptiles. The resulting conclusion that because these fish and reptiles must have been isolated on the mountain tops for ages they are likely to be different from any known species is regarded as quite natural. The mountain plateaus form practically little countries by themselves like islands, but more isolated, because the ocean of air that surrounds them does not afford the facilities for communication with other islands as do the waters of the ocean itself.

One of these plateaus, known as Knkenham, which is better situated for observation than any of the others, is estimated to have an area of 200 square miles or more. The smallest, which bears the name common to the group, Roraima, is estimated to contain So to 140 square miles.