but in the centre of the torrid zone,-not in one of the West India islands, but upon a vast continent, where the mountains, the rivers, the mass of vegetation, and every thing else are gigantic. If he be sensible to the beauties of rural scenery, he finds it difficult to account to himself for the diversified feelings which he experiences: he is unable to determine what most excites his admiration; whether the solemn silence of the wilderness, or the individual beauty and contrast of the forms, or the vigour and freshness of vegetable life, that characterize the climate of the tropics. It might be said that the earth, overloaded with plants, does not leave them room enough for growth. The trunks of the trees are everywhere covered with a thick carpet of verdure; and were the orchidea and the plants of the genera piper and pothos, which grow upon a single courbaril or American fig-tree, transferred to the ground, they would cover a large space. By this singular denseness of vegetation, the forests, like the rocks and mountains, enlarge the domain of organic nature. The same lianas which creep along the ground rise to the tops of the trees, and pass from the one to the other at a height of more than a hundred feet. In consequence of this intermixture of parasitic plants, the botanist is often led to confound the flowers, fruits, and foliage which belong to different species."

The philosophers walked for some hours under the shade of these arches, which scarcely admitted an occasional glimpse of the clear blue sky, and for the first time admired the pendulous nests of the orioles, which mingled their warblings with the cries of the parrots and macaws. The latter fly only in pairs, while the former are seen in flocks of several hundreds. At the distance of about a league from the village of San Fernando, they issued from the woods, and entered an open country, covered with aquatic plants from eight to ten feet high; there

being no meadows or pastures in the lower parts of the torrid zone, as in Europe. The road was bordered with a kind of bamboo, rising more than forty feet. These plants, according to Humboldt, are less common in America than is usually supposed, although they form dense woods in New-Grenada and Quito, and occur abundantly on the western slope of the Andes.

They now entered San Fernando, which is situated in a narrow plain, and bounded by limestone rocks. This was the first missionary station they saw in America. The houses of the Chayma Indians were built of clay, strengthened by lianas, and the streets were straight, and intersected each other at right angles. The great square in the centre of the village contains the church, the house of the missionary, and another, destined for the accommodation of travellers, which bears the pompous name of the king's house (Casa del Rey). These royal residences occur in all the Spanish settlements, and are of the greatest benefit in countries where there are no inns.

They had been recommended to the friars who superintend the missions of the Chaymas, by their syndic at Cumana, and the superior, a corpulent and jolly old capuchin, received them with kindness. This respectable personage, seated the greater part of the day in an arm-chair, complained bitterly of the indolence of his countrymen. He considered the pursuits of the travellers as useless, smiled at the sight of their instruments and dried plants, and maintained that of all.the enjoyments of life, without excepting sleep, none could be compared with the pleasure of eating good beef.

This mission was founded about the end of the seventeenth century, near the junction of the Manzanares and Lucasperez; but, in consequence of a fire, was removed to its present situation. The number of families now amounted to a hundred, and as the

FRANCISCO LOZANO-CUMANACOA.

79

head of the establishment observed, the custom of marrying at a very early age contributes greatly to the rapid increase of population.

In the village of Arenas, which is inhabited by Indians of the same race as those of San Fernando, there lived a labourer, Francisco Lozano, who had suckled a child. Its mother happening to be sick, he took it, and in order to quiet it, pressed it to his breast, when the stimulus imparted by the sucking of the child caused a flow of milk. The travellers saw the certificate drawn up on the spot to attest this remarkable fact, of which several eyewitnesses were still living. The man was not at Arenas during their stay at the mission, but afterward visited them at Cumana, accompanied by his son, when M. Bonpland examined his breasts, and found them wrinkled, like those of women who have nursed. He was not an Indian, but a white descended from European parents. Alexander Benedictus relates a similar case of an inhabitant of Syria, and other authors have given examples of the same nature.

Returning towards Cumana, they entered the small town of Cumanacoa, situated in a naked and almost circular plain, surrounded by lofty mountains, and containing about two thousand three hundred inhabitants. The houses were low and slight, and with very few exceptions built of wood. The travellers were surprised to find the column of mercury in the barometer scarcely 7.3 lines shorter than on the coast. The hollow in which the town is erected is not more than 665 feet above the level of the sea, and only seven leagues from Cumana; but the climate is much colder than in the latter place, where it scarcely ever rains; whereas at Cumanacoa there are seven months of severe weather. It was during the winter season that our travellers visited the missions. A dense fog covered the sky every night; the thermometer varied from 64·8° to 68°; and Deluc's hygrometer indicated 85°. At ten in the morning the

thermometer did not rise above 69.8°, but from noon to three o'clock attained the height of from 78-8° to 80.6°. About two, large black clouds regularly formed, and poured down torrents of rain, accompanied by thunder. At five the rain ceased, and the sun reappeared; but at eight or nine the fog again commenced. In consequence of the humidity, the vegetation, although not very diversified, is remarkable for its freshness. The soil is highly fertile; but the most valuable production of the district is tobacco, the cultivation of which, in the province of Cumana, is nearly confined to this valley.

Next to the tobacco of Cuba and the Rio Negro, that grown here is the most aromatic. The seed is sown in the beginning of September, and the cotyledons appear on the eighth day. The young plants are then covered with large leaves to protect them from the sun. A month or two after, they are transferred to a rich and well-prepared soil, and disposed in rows, three or four feet distant from each other. The whole is carefully weeded, and the principal stalk is several times topped, until the leaves are mature, when they are gathered. They are then suspended by threads of the Agave Americana, and their ribs taken out; after which they are twisted. The cultivation of tobacco was a royal monopoly, and employed about 1500 persons. Indigo is also raised in the valley of Cumanacoa.

This singular plain appeared to be the bed of an ancient lake. The surrounding mountains are all precipitous, and the soil contains pebbles and bivalve shells. One of the gaps in the range, they were informed, was inhabited by jaguars, which passed the day in caves, and roamed about the plantations at night. The preceding year one of them had devoured a horse belonging to a farm in the neighbourhood. The groans of the dying animal awoke the slaves, who went out armed with lances and large

JAGUARS-SEARCH FOR A GOLD MINE. 81

knives, with which they despatched the tiger after a vigorous resistance.

From two caverns in this ravine there at times issue flames, which illumine the adjacent mountains, and are seen to a great distance at night. The phenomenon was accompanied by a long-continued subterraneous noise at the time of the last earthquake. A first attempt to penetrate into this pass was rendered unsuccessful, by the strength of the vegetation and the intertwining of lianas and thorny plants; but the inhabitants becoming interested in the researches of the travellers, and being desirous to know what the German miner thought of the gold ore which they imagined to exist in it, cleared a path through the woods. On entering the ravine, they found traces of jaguars; and the Indians returned for some small dogs upon which they knew these animals would spring in preference to attacking a man. The rocks that bound it are perpendicular, and what geologists term alpine limestone. The excursion was rendered hazardous by the nature of the ground; but they at length reached the pretended gold mine, which was merely an excavation in a bed of black marl containing iron pyrites, a substance which the guides insisted was no other than the precious metal.

They continued to penetrate into the crevice, and after undergoing great fatigue, reached a wall of rock, which, rising perpendicularly to the height of 5116 feet, presented two inaccessible caverns inhabited by nocturnal birds. Halting at the foot of one of the caves from which flames had been seen to issue, they listened to the remarks of the natives respecting the probability of an increase in the frequency of the agitations to which New-Andalusia had so often been subjected. The cause of the luminous exhalations, however, they were unable to ascertain.

On the 12th, they continued their journey to the