TRAVEL NOTES IN WESTERN VENEZUELA 



19 



and given over to cactus and 

 thorny shrubs, but humid in the 

 south and clothed in heavy for- 

 est. The sierras rise abruptly 

 from the edge of this plain and 

 to great heights. From tlie 

 southern end of the lake the 

 Andes seem an impassable wall 

 with their forested slopes and 

 fogbound crests. And indeed 

 the trails that sidewind deep 

 gorges and climb lofty ridges, 

 only to drop again to the roaring 

 stream, find passes in the barren 

 paramo some fourteen thousand 

 feet above the sea. The transi- 

 tions from one type of environ- 

 ment to another are sudden and 

 startling. 



A direct but little used trail 

 for Merida leaves the unhealth- 

 ful lake port of Bobures, passes 

 through small savannahs and 

 stretches of dripping forest to 

 Torondoy, a coffee center, and 

 then ascends the Torondoy 

 River to its very source in the 

 paramo of Mucumpate. In the 

 coffee region the mountain-sides 

 liave been cleared of forest and 

 only the widespreading bucari 

 trees retained as shade for the 

 tender shrubs. In February 

 these bucari trees are masses of 

 vermilion blossoms. 



Leaving Torondoy we soon 

 find that the valley has become 

 too dry for coffee, perhaps be- 

 cause the high ridges to seaward 

 rob the winds of their rain. 

 Small huts of mud and thatch 

 cling to the steep slopes, and 

 irregular fields of maize differ- 

 ing in age and condition make 

 an odd patchwork of dull color.- 

 on the mountain-sides. The 

 brighter green of plantains 



Open liouM- is krj.t in the desert by the Parajuano and 

 Goajiro Indians. Tlie peninsulas that flank the Gulf of 

 JMaracaibo are exceedingly arid. Tlie Goajiro Indians in- 

 habit the western one, and those groups living in the interior 

 are almost untouched by civilization. The Parajuano Indians 

 may once have inhabited the eastern peninsula. The old man 

 wears the apron of olden times. He belongs to the Parajuano 

 tribe 



Till' i':ii-;giKnio woman i-catcd in t1ii> liamniock lias her 

 face painted in a fashion peculiar to this tribe. The hammock 

 is native of South America, and is in common use through- 

 out Venezuela 



