220 



METEOSOLOGY. 



seems not to be of European invention. It consists merely of a flat 



stone a ]| foot long, 

 14 inches wide, and 3 

 inches thick, somewhat 

 convex on the lower 

 and concave on the 

 upper surface ; the con- 

 cavity h is flat, and 7 

 inches wide. The run- 

 ner r, with which the 

 corn is crushed, is a 

 stone about 5 inches 

 long, 3 inches wide, and 

 o^ an oval form, so as to 

 fit the concavity b. The 

 person crushing the corn 

 stands near the upper 

 end of the stone, and 

 holds the runner with 

 botli hands, and in crushing the previously soaked and somewhat 

 pounded corn brings to bear nearly the whole w-eight of the upper 

 part of the body upon the runner. The ground pulpy mass is shoved 

 ofF at the lower end of the stone into, some vessel. If the pulp is not 

 fiue enough it is crushed over again. This pulp, washed to remove 

 the 8kins of the corn, and then baked upon hot stoves, constitutes the 

 bread of all the Creoles not living in town. The whole work of 

 pounding and crushing is performed by females, and is a most tedious 

 drudgery. It is really astonishing that the people here have not yet 

 made use of the iron corn-grinders used so universally in the back- 

 woods of the United States, although they can be bought at Caracas. 

 The above rude corn-grinder, or rather corn-crusher, is used also to 

 crush roaeted coffee, cocoa, and salt, and has been even adopted by 

 some German families. I have been explicit on this subject, because 

 in Emory's "Notes of a Military Reconnaissance," page 133, I find 

 made mention of a similar corn grinder used among the Pimos ; but 

 whether it is of the same shape as these here I have no means to 

 learn. 



Barometrical measurement shows that the river Tuy, seven or eight 

 miles to the 8 SE of Colonia Tovar, is only about 3,100 feet above 

 the level of the sea, while at Colonia Tovar it is at least 6,000 ieet. 

 This river has therefore a descent of nearly 3,000 feet within eight 

 miles, or, on an average, a fall of 375 feet per mile. Such is the terri- 

 tory of tlie colony. 



On the 28th of May I carried the barometer to the " Picacho," one 

 of the highest peaks in the neighborhood of the colony, and found 

 the height of the mercury at 9i a. m. 22,736, thermometer 69^, from 

 which 1 conclude that this mountain may be only 500 or 600 feet in- 

 ferior in height to the "Silla" of Caracas, the highest peak of the 

 coast range of Venezuela. 



In travelling irom Victoria towards Valencia we find, about three 



