The earth and its inhabitants .. . ason the river falls continuously, exposing vast tracts along its banks andislands. On the other hand, during the floods it inundates the riverine plains togreat distances. At the confluences, where several streams converge above nar-row channels, the waters expand to inland seas, flooding woodlands and savannasat times for a space of 120 miles. One of the sixteenth-century Conquistadores,having heard of a sea away to the south of the Barquisimeto mountains beyondthe llanos, pushed on to the margin of the inundated region, probably about thelower Apure, and r
The earth and its inhabitants .. . ason the river falls continuously, exposing vast tracts along its banks andislands. On the other hand, during the floods it inundates the riverine plains togreat distances. At the confluences, where several streams converge above nar-row channels, the waters expand to inland seas, flooding woodlands and savannasat times for a space of 120 miles. One of the sixteenth-century Conquistadores,having heard of a sea away to the south of the Barquisimeto mountains beyondthe llanos, pushed on to the margin of the inundated region, probably about thelower Apure, and returned in the belief that he had reached the shores of the ocean. 96 SOUTH AMEIUCA—THE ANDES EEGIONS. Orinoco Dklta and Neighboiring Coast Streams. The Orinoco delta is not disposed in a line with the axis of the fluvial chief branch, terminating in the broad estuary of the Boca do Navios, main-tains the direction of the mainstream, but the Manamo, or western branch. Fig. 33.—Oedioco Delta. Scale 1 : 2,600,000. ilO. West op Greenv/.ci Oto 12Fathoms Depths 12 to 80 Fathoms. 50 Fathomsand upwards. 6-,; Miles. ramifies at a right angle northwards to the Gulf of Paria. The triangular spaceenclosed h\ these two branches is approximately estimated by Level de Godas at7,000 square miles, though subject to constant modifications by the floods, subsi-dences, alluvial deposits, and erosions. At the point where the two main branches ORINOCO DELTA. 97 bifurcate the river is some 12 miles wide and of great depth; the engineerFajardos soundings revealed 400 feet in the year 17o4. Between the chief mouth and Vagre Bay at the entrance of the Manamobranch the delta develops a coastline of over 186 miles ; the extent is even muchgreater if the channels of the Amacuro and of the Isla Barima be included on theeast side, and the secondary deltas of the small streams rising in the coast hills onthe west. The low-ljing deltaic plains, where few rising grounds stand higherthan the leve
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectgeography, bookyear18
