in diminishing the Quantity of' Water in Rivers. 89 



chain of mountains which separate it from Llanos, and both on 

 the east and west a range of hills completely encloses it. By 

 this very singular conformation, the rivers which take their rise 

 within its enclosure have no issue, either towards the ocean or 

 otherwise. Their waters, therefore, accumulate in the lowest 

 part of the valley, and form by their union the beautiful lake 

 of Tacarigua, otherwise denominated Valencia. This sheet of 

 water, according to the testimony of M. de Humboldt, exceeds 

 in dimensions that of Neufchatel in Switzerland ; it is elevated 

 more than 1300 feet above the level of the sea ; its length is 

 about thirty miles ; and its greatest breadth does not exceed 

 seven or eight. At the time when ]\I. de Humboldt visited 

 this valley, the inhabitants had long i-emarked the gradual dry- 

 ing up of the waters of the lake, which had excited their atten- 

 tion for thirty years. But, in truth, it is only necessary to 

 compare the descriptions supplied by the older historians with 

 its present state, to recognise, after allowing the largest deduc- 

 tions for exaggerations, that the waters have very considerably 

 fallen. The facts themselves speak most distinctly. 



Oviedo,* who, towards the end of the fifteenth century, so 

 often traversed the valley of Aragua, positively affirms that 

 New Valencia was founded in 1555, at the distance of half a 

 league from the lake of Tacarigua ; and M. de Humboldt 

 found, in the year 1800, that the town was more than three 

 miles (2700 toises) distant from its banks. The aspect of the 

 district exhibits additional evidence of a great change. The 

 rising grounds, which are somewhat elevated above the plain, 

 maintain to the present day the name of islands, which, at a 

 former period, was most accurately assigned to them, seeing 

 they were surrounded with water. The space which has been 

 exposed by the retreat of the waters has been transformed into 

 most fertile fields for the cultivation of cotton, sugar-cane, and 

 the banana tree. Those buildings which were reared in the 

 immediate vicinity of the water are seen to be more and more 

 forsaken by it. New islands made their appearance in the 

 year 179(3. An important military post in the shape of a fort- 

 ress, which was built in 1740 in the island of Cabrera, is now 



* His Historia dcla Provincia de Venezuela was publislicd in 172:{. 



