NATURAL HISTORY. 



603 



the general storehouse for tobacco 

 at Guanare, in the province of 

 Caraccas, whence it is distributed 

 to the lesser warehouses. 



If a heap of tobacco leases 

 covered -with the green leaves 

 of other plants be exposed to the 

 sun for a few days, the tobacco 

 begins to ferment. If then put 

 into a press a red liqiior may be 

 drawn from it, the exhalations of 

 which are intoxicating, and its 

 taste verj- pungent. This juice 

 drawn from the tobacco is called 

 Anvir, but when reduced to a 

 syi'up, by evaporation, it is term- 

 ed Mo. If the Mb be mixed 

 with the Urao when dried, 

 roasted, and puherlsed, it foims 

 the Mo dulce, if the propoi tions 

 be preser\ed of an ounce of 

 Urao to a pound of Mo, or 

 otherwise Chimb, if two or more 

 ounces of l^rao be mixed with a 

 pound of iMo. 



In the province of Venezuela, 

 and especially in Barinas and pai t 

 of Caraccas and Maracaybo, Mb 

 is much used, and likewise Chi- 

 mb, which is kept in small horn 

 Ijoxes, and occasionally i)ersons 

 put a little into their mouths. 

 The Mb, and especially the Chi- 

 mb, produces a copious salivation, 

 stimulating at the same time the 

 nervous system, which in these 

 climes, where the senses are 

 blunted by the excessive lieat, is 

 productive of a degree of plea- 

 sure. 



It is likewise used in medicine 

 for spasmodic comj)laints, which 

 in these countries are both fre- 

 (pient and dangerous. It is said 

 that a little Chimb held in the 

 mouth protects swimmers from 

 the electric power of the cramp 

 fislj (Trembladores). 



The sale of tobacco, the Mb 

 dulcc, and Chimb, in the Cap- 

 taincy-general of Venezuela, pro- 

 duced, in 1804, 700,000 piasters 

 after e^ery expense attending it 

 was paid. 



I had the honovu' of transmit- 

 ting last year to Baron Humboldt 

 in Paris, a specimen of the Urao, 

 which Colonel Duran brought to 

 Europe. It ^vas analysed by M. 

 Guy Lussac, who pronounced it 

 to be natron, in no respect dif- 

 ferent from tiiat fountl in the 

 lakes of Egypt and Eczzan. The 

 mass neither contains sulphuric 

 nor boracic acid, but a little sub- 

 corljonate of ammonia. On com- 

 paring the Urao with common 

 subcarbonate of soda Ave find that 

 it contains more carbonic acid and 

 less water. 



In the environs of Lalagunilla, 

 as well a? in the roads to Meridii, 

 and especially near the river Al- 

 baiTcgas, there are some moun- 

 tains which are very distinguisli- 

 .able among the others by their 

 superior verdure, and by the 

 abundance of some plants, prin- 

 cipally the Rosa de Muerto, and 

 precisely the same species of ver- 

 dure and the same plants are 

 found on the mountains where 

 are the mines of rock salt at Zi- 

 j)aquira, and at Enemocon df 

 Cundinamarca in New Granada. 

 Finding these similarities, I may 

 venture to form a conjecture, 

 that in the environs of Lalagu- 

 nilhi there must likewise exist 

 muriate of soda, ;ind this being 

 asceitained it would perhaps con- 

 tribute to explain the formation 

 of nainsn at such a considerable 

 height above the level of the sea, 

 which is more than sixty leagues 

 distant from Lalagunilla. 



Ml6CELLAi\IES, 



