TRAVEL XOTES IN WESTERN VENEZUELA 



23 



conditions change for the better. ]\Ie- 

 rida is an old-fashioned city and a 

 natural fortress, placed on a sloping 

 bench between two streams. The Uni- 

 versit}' of the Andes is situated here. 

 Coffee of superior quality is grown as 

 well as a variety of other tropical prod- 

 ucts. 



From Merida one may travel by mule 



on the dry soil is agriculture possible. 



The archaeological exploi'ations were 

 extended into northern Venezuela. 

 Xext a journey was made southward 

 across the llanos or grassy plains to 

 Cabalozo and San Fernando de Apure. 



As a purely scientific result of the 

 expedition, it now seems clear that the 

 earliest pottery art of Mexico and Cen- 



Photo by Dr. Alfredo Jahn, Caracax 

 Street scene in Merida. Five snowy peaks rise direttly opposite this city and aflford a brilliant con- 

 trast of tropical and arctic life 



to A'alera, Trujillo, Carache, and 

 Tucuyo in a general northeasterly di- 

 rection. The Andes decrease in eleva- 

 tion but some of the passes are ten 

 thousand feet or more above the sea. 

 There are narrow forest belts as well as 

 short stretches of true paramo. The 

 lower country is hot and dry and when 

 we come to the broad plain in which lie 

 Tucuyo and Barquisimeto we find for- 

 ests of cactus trees made almost im- 

 penetrable by underbrush of smaller 

 cactus. Only where water can be put 



tral America, belonging on what is 

 known as the "archaic horizon," was 

 extended in ancient times across north- 

 ern South America possibly to the 

 mouth of the Amazon. The trail, 

 marked by clay figurines of a peculiar 

 style, is of greatest interest because the 

 spread of this pottery art was asso- 

 ciated with the first spread of agricul- 

 ture, and with the historic development 

 of plants, such as maize and beans, that 

 are of the utmost importance in our 

 own dav and civilization. 



