282 Trip from Angostura to the 



world?"— Alta Gracia was settled in 1734; in 1803, it con- 

 tained 800 inhabitants. Its convenient position made it the 

 depot for the levies raised by Ansoategui in the missions ; and 

 the wanton waste of his soldiery is attested by the horns and 

 bones scattered in every direction. It does not appear that the 

 fever broke out till the preparations for their embarkation caused 

 a frequent intercourse with San Miguel, whence we may there- 

 fore presume the infection to have been brought. All the neigh- 

 bouring- villages, San Felix, Caroni, Murucuri, and Alta 

 Gracia, had been nearly stript of their inhabitants. This spot 

 appeared well suited for an European colony ; the air salu- 

 brious, pasture abundant, soil rich all around, and separated 

 from Upata by a range of hills about 1,000 feet in height, and 

 from the noxious vapours of the Orinoco, by one still more 

 lofty and extensive. — Returned at a smart pace in an hour and 

 a quarter. Having observed much cinchona on the road, in- 

 quired of a friend its similarity with tliat of New Granada. Were 

 informed the species was different : the tree much larger, and 

 leaf broader. 



12th. Determined to visit Tarife, who was ill at his Hacienda. 

 His fever had just left him : he was in his mill-house making 

 suo-ar, having succeeded in hiring a few hands ; four mules 

 worked his wooden roller, and, considering the rudeness of the 

 machinery, and want of iron, got on pretty well. The sugar is 

 made without lime, merely boiled down into a thick sirop that 

 cakes as it cools : the moulds conical, four inches diameter to 

 eight perpendicular, with no hole at the bottom for the molasses 

 to run out : the loaves sell for two rials each. Partook of an ex- 

 cellent dinner of fowl and tassago, which, when well prepared, 

 is certainly preferable to fresh meat ; a pudding of rice, boiled 

 with cocoa-nut milk and sugar, was excellent. 



13th. Resolved to explore our way to Santa Maria. The 

 road was pointed out across the savanna in a south-easterly di- 

 rection; but, in the multiplicity of tracks, lost our way, and 

 crossed the hills by a small plantation into the Cupapuy road. 

 Struck off eastward, and passing many pretty meadows on 

 the banks of a stream of water, — at length espied Santa Maria 



