plains, and examine the springs of petroleum, which lie between the river Guarapiche and the Rio Areo: but the season of rains was already arrived, and we were in daily perplexity to dry and preserve the plants we had collected. The road from Guanaguana to the village of Punzera goes either by St. Felix or by Caycara and Guayuta, which is a hato (farm for cattle) of the missionaries. In this last place, according to the report of the Indians, great masses of sulphur are found, not in a gypseous or calcareous rock, but at a small depth below the soil, in a bed of clay. This singular phenomenon appears to me peculiar to America; we shall find it again in the kingdom of Quito, and in New Spain. On approaching Punzera, we saw in the savannahs small bags, formed of a tissue of silk, suspended from the branches of the lowest trees. It is the seda silvestre, or wild silk of the country, which is of a beautiful lustre, but very rough to the touch. The phalena which produces it is perhaps analogous with that of the provinces of Guanaxuato and Antioquia which also furnish wild silk *. We found in the beautiful forest of Punzera two trees known by the names of curucay and canela; the first, of which we shall speak hereafter, yields a resin very much sought after by the Piaches, or In

Nouv. Esp., T. i, p. 453; T. iii, p. 668.

dian sorcerers; the leaves of the second have the smell of the real cinnamon of Ceylon*. From Punzera the road leads by Terecen and Nueva Palencia, which was a new colony of Canarians, to the Port of San Juan, situate on the right bank of the river Areo and it is only by crossing this river in a canoe, that the traveller can arrive at the famous petroleum springs (or mineral tar) of Buen Pastor. They were described to us as small wells or funnels, hollowed out by nature in a marshy soil. This phenomenon recalled to us the lake of asphaltum, or of chapapote, in the island of Trinidad†, which is distant from Buen Pastor, in a straight line, only thirty-five sea leagues.

Having long combated the desire we felt to descend from the Guarapiche to the Golfo Triste, we took the direct road of the mountains. The valleys of Guanaguana and Caripe are separated by a kind of dyke, or calcareous ridge, well

Is it the laurus cinnamomoides of Mutis? What is that other cinnamon-tree, which the Indians call tuorco, common in the mountains of Tocuyo, and at the sources of the Rio Uchere, the bark of which is mixed with chocolate? Father Caulin gives the name of curucay to the copaifera officinalis, which yields the balsam of capivi. (Hist. corograf., p. 24 et

34.

+ Laguna de la Brea, south-east of the port of Naparima. There is another spring of asphaltum on the eastern coast of the island, in the bay of Mayaro.

known by the name of the Cuchilla de Guanaguana. We found this passage difficult, because at that time we had not climbed the Cordilleras; but it is by no means so dangerous as they love to represent it at Cumana. The path is indeed in several parts only fourteen or fifteen inches broad; and the ridge of the mountain, along which the road runs, is covered with a short turf extremely slippery; the slopes on each side are steep, and the traveller, if he should stumble, might slide down on the grass to the depth of seven or eight hundred feet. Nevertheless, the flanks of the mountain offer rather steep declivities than real precipices; and the mules of this country are so sure footed, that they inspire the greatest confidence. Their habits are the same as those of the beasts of burden in Switzerland and the Pyrenees. In proportion as a country is more savage, the instinct of domestic animals improves in address and sagacity. When the mules feel themselves in danger, they stop, turning their heads to the right and to the left; the motion of their ears seems to indicate, that they reflect on the decision they ought to take. Their resolution is slow, but always just, if it be free; that is to

Ridge like "the blade of a knife." Throughout all Spanish America they give the name of cuchilla to the ridge of a mountain terminated on each side by very steep declivities.

say, if it be not crossed or hastened by the imprudence of the traveller. It is on the frightful roads of the Andes, during journeys of six or seven months across mountains furrowed by torrents, that the intelligence of horses and beasts of burden displays itself in an astonishing manner. Thus the mountaineers are heard to say, "I will not give you the mule whose step is the easiest, but him who reasons best;" la mas racional. This popular expression, dictated by long experience, combats the system of animated machines, better perhaps than all the arguments of speculative philosophy.

When we had reached the highest point of the ridge or cuchilla of Guanaguana, an interesting spectacle presented itself to our eyes. We embraced in one view the vast savannahs or meadows of Maturin and Rio Tigre*; the peak of the Tumiriquirit and an infinite number of parallel ridges, which, seen at a distance, looked like the waves of the sea. Toward the north-east opens the valley, that contains the convent of Caripe. The aspect of this valley is peculiarly attractive, as, shaded by forests, it forms a strong contrast with the nudity of the neighbouring mountains, which are bare of

* These natural meadows are part of the llanos or immense steppes bordered by the Oroonoko.

+ El Cucurucho.

trees, and covered with gramineous plants. We found the absolute height of the Cuchillo to be 548 toises; it is consequently 329 toises more elevated than the house of the missionary at Guanaguana.

Descending from the ridge by a winding path, we entered into a country completely woody. The soil is covered with moss, and a new species of drosera *, which by it's form reminded us of the drosera of the Alps. The thickness of the forests, and the force of vegetation, augmented as we approached the convent of Caripe. Every thing here changes it's aspect, even to the rock that accompanied us from Punte Delgad The calcareous strata become thinner, forming graduated steps, which stretch out like walls, cornices, and turrets, as in the mountains of Jura, those of Pappenheim in Germany, and near Orzow in Gallicia. The colour of the stone is no longer of a smoky or bluish gray; it becomes white: it's fracture is smooth, and sometimes even imperfectly conchoidal. It is no longer the calcareous formation of the Higher Alps, but a formation to which this serves as a basis, and which is analogous to the Jura limestone. In the chain of the Apennines, between Rome and Nocera, I observed this same immediate superposition . It indicates,

• Drosera tenella.

It is thus, that near Geneva the rock of the Mole, be