2 1 8 METEOROLOGY. 



years, they have remained in this position undisturbed by winds and 

 weather. 



The stars are here seen to scintillate on every clear evening the 

 same as they do in hii^her latitudes, with the exception of a small 

 area in the zenith of about 45 degrees, where they have their steady 

 planetary light mentioned by Humboldt, and to be observed in lower 

 regions. The zodiacal light I have never been able to see in the 

 colony, although I have looked for it every clear evening. 



Besides the already enumerated tables and diagrams, I have also 

 inclosed four sheets of copies of sculptured rocks, or, as they are called 

 in this country, " piedras pintadas," (painted stones.) 



These rocks, which I have found in diiferent regions, in low hot 

 valleys as well as on high cold mountains, seem to be the work of one 

 and the same race of men. The original figures are on a large scale. 

 A few well-preserved spots, sheltered by a layer of sandy soil against 

 the destructive influence of the atmosphere, show that the outlines of 

 these figures are grooves, engraved or chiseled very smoothly and 

 regularly to the depth of at least an inch in the hardest rock, and 

 evinces a skill which would do credit to any of the civilized inhabitants 

 now living in this country, even when aided by tools of steel There 

 is no mere scratching about them ; they have been sculptured. They 

 show clearly that they were worked to last, and to outlive full many 

 a change in the history of nations. The delineations are in all of 

 them, whether from the sultry and insalubrious coast of Puerto 

 Cabello, or from the cold mountain regions of the colony, of the same 

 kind of workmanship, consisting of grooves about an inch wide and 

 an inch deep. 



Time has worked sadly at most of these stones, and on some of 

 them I found only traces of figures. 



All these rocks I found by accident in my botanical rambles, in 

 places where I never would have ventured to penetrate, and where I 

 was led by necessity when strayed and trying to find my way back. 



Whatever may be said of these figures, patiently worked into the 

 rock, they were not done without a certain design. Whether they 

 were intended to convey any peculiar meaning, or none at all, the 

 Indians have hereby bequeathed to us the means of comparing them 

 with similar monuments in other distant regions. So much is certain, 

 they were worked with the intention to remain there for a long period 

 of time, and to be looked at by posterity. These figures consist in 

 images of objects, with which their makers were surrounded and ac- 

 qua nted, as, for instance, alligators or large lizards, snakes, tigers, 

 canoes, sun, moon, human heads, &c., but show no signs of imple- 

 ments of civilization. Therefore these figures may be supposed to 

 date anterior to the conquest of the country by the Spaniards. No 

 record of the existence of these rocks, I suppose, has hitherto ever been 

 made, for this region has been discovered l)ut very lately, and none 

 of the natives living in the neighboring valleys have known anything 

 about them. In this case I may have been the first and only stranger 

 who ever beheld their yet lasting works, of which they took so much 

 pains to make a show in after years. 



