times separate from the trunk at the height of eight feet, and are transformed into cylindrical roots, two feet in thickness, so that the tree appears as if supported by buttresses. This scaf

folding, however, does not penetrate very deep into the earth; the lateral shoots spread upon the surface, and if wounded with a hatchet at twenty feet distant from the trunk, the milky juice gushes out; which juice, when deprived of the vital influence of the organs of the tree, coagulates. What a wonderful combination of cells and vessels exists in these huge vegetable masses, in these colossal trees of the torrid zone, which without interruption, probably during a thousand years, prepare nutritious fluids, raise them to the height of one hundred and eighty feet, convey them down again to the ground, and conceal beneath a rough and hard bark, under the inanimate layers of ligneous matter, all the movements of organic life.

We left the plantation of Manterola at sunrise, and journeyed towards La Victoria. The road follows the smiling banks of the river Tuy. The morning was cool and humid; the air was embalmed by the delicious odour of the pancratium undulatum, and other large liliaceous plants. In our way we passed a beautiful village named Mamon; a little before we reached which, we stopped at a farm, where we saw a negress more than a hundred years old, seated before a small hut, constructed of earth and reeds; she appeared to enjoy very good health. "I hold her to the sun," said her grandson, who was attending her with filial affection, "I hold her to the sun, and

his warmth keeps her alive." A violent preservative this, for the glorious luminary darted his rays almost vertically upon the place. The nations with brown skins, blacks well seasoned, and Indians, attain a happy old age in the equatorial regions. Before we plunged into the forests of the Oroonoko, we enjoyed at Victoria all the comforts of advanced civilization, as almost all the families with whom we had lived in friendship at Caraccas, and the neighbouring towns, were assembled in the delightful valleys of Aragua, and being proprietors of the richest plantations, they contended with one another to render our abode among them agreeable. The village of Victoria contains seven thousand inhabitants, many fine edifices, a church decorated with doric columns, and all the resources of commercial industry. In its environs, though the cultivated soil be nearly eighteen feet above the level of the ocean, are fields of corn mingled with plantations of sugar canes, plantains, and coffee. It is a striking spectacle to see the grain of Europe cultivated from the Equator to Lapland. At sunset we visited a little hill called Calvary, whence the view is extremely fine and extensive. On the west we discover the beautiful valleys of Aragua, a vast space covered with gardens, cultivated fields, clumps of forest trees, farms, and hamlets. Towards the south extend, as far as vision can reach, the lofty mountains of La Palma and Guayraima, which conceal the immense steppes, or plains, of Calabozo. This interior chain of elevated hills, stretching westwards along the lake of Valencia, is very steep, and

constantly involved in that light vapour, which in hot climates gives a vivid blue tint to distant objects, and far from obscuring their outlines, shows them more strongly marked.

Upon quitting the village of Turmero, to which we had proceeded from Victoria, we discovered at the distance of three miles, an object which appeared on the horizon like a round hillock, covered with vegetation. We found it to be neither a hill, nor a group of trees, but one single tree, the famous Zamang del Guayre, known throughout the province for the enormous extent of its branches, which form a circular head 576 feet in circumference. The Zamang is a fine species of mimosa; its delicate and tender foliage displayed itself beautifully on the azure of the sky; its trunk is only sixty feet high, and nine thick, but its real beauty consists in the figure of its head; the branches expand like an immense umbrella and bend towards the ground, from which they retain the uniform distance of twelve or fifteen feet. One side of this astonishing vegetable phenomenon was entirely stripped of its foliage, owing to the drought, while the other side was covered at once with leaves and flowers. Vast quantities of parasitical plants entwine around its branches, and insinuate themselves into the bark. The inhabitants of the vicinity, and especially the Indians, hold the Zamang del Guayre in high veneration. The first Spanish conquerors found it in nearly its present

state.

Humboldt.

DESCRIPTION OF THE LAKE OF VALENCIA, OR TACARIGUA.

THE lake of Valencia, called by the natives Tacarigua, exceeds in magnitude the lake of Neufchatel in Switzerland, but its general form has more resemblance to that of Geneva. The opposite banks of lake Tacarigua display a striking contrast. The southern shore is desert and almost uninhabited, while a screen of high mountains gives it a gloomy monotonous appearance. The northern shore, on the contrary, is cheerful, pastoral, and adorned with the rich cultivation of the sugar-cane, coffee-tree, and cotton. Paths bordered with a variety of flowering and fragrant shrubs cross the plain, and connect the scattered farms. Every house is surrounded by clumps of trees. The ceiba, bearing large yellow flowers, and intermingling its branches with those of the purple erithryna, gives a peculiar character to the landscape. The mixture of vivid vegetable colouring, contrasts charmingly with the uniform tint of an unclouded sky. Here and there the granitic rock pierces through the cultivated ground; enormous stony masses rise abruptly in the midst of the valley; bare and forked, they nourish a few succulent plants, which prepare mould for future ages. Often, at the summit of one of those lonely hills, a fig tree or a clusia with fleshy leaves, fixes its roots in the rock, and towers above the plain. The lake is full of islands, which embellish the scene by the picturesque figures of their crags, and the vegetation with

which they are covered; they are very fertile, owing to the influence of the vapours that rise from the lake. Burro, the largest of these isles, is two miles in length, and inhabited by a few families of Mestizoes; these men, resting in all the simplicity of nature, seldom visit the shore of Mocunda. To them the lake appears of immense extent; plantains, cassava, milk, and a little fish, satisfy their moderate desires. A hut of reeds, hammocks woven of cotton, which the neighbouring fields produce, a large stone on which the fire is made, and the ligneous fruit of the tutuma, constitute their whole establishment. The lake is tolerably well stocked with fish of three kinds : the guavina, the vagra, and the sardina. The guavina has large silvery scales, edged with green. This fish is extremely voracious, and destroys the other kinds. The fishermen assured us, that a small crocodile, the bava, or bavilla, which often approached us when bathing, contributes much to the destruction of the fish in the lake. We never could succeed in procuring this reptile for the purpose of examination. It commonly attains only three or four feet in length. It is said to be very harmless; however it resembles the alligator in habits as well as in form. Neither in lake Sacarigua itself, nor in any of the small rivers that flow into it, are there found any large alligators, though these dangerous animals abound at a few miles distance, in the streams which run into the Apure, the Oroonoko, or into the Caribbean sea. The isle named Chamberg, is remarkable for its height; it is a rock of gneiss,

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