ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. * 45 



cas is a country of mountains. The coast chain is divided, like the 

 Swiss Alps, into several subordinate chains enclosing longitudinal 

 valleys. The most celebrated of these is the pleasant valley of 

 Aragua, which produces a great quantity of indigo, sugar, cotton, 

 and, what is most remarkable, European wheat. The southern mar- 

 gin of this valley adjoins the beautiful Lake of Valencia, whose old 

 Indian name is Tacarigua. The contrast between its opposite shores 

 gives it a striking resemblance to the Lake of Geneva. It is true 

 that the bare mountains of G-uigue and G-uiripa have less grandeur 

 of character than the Savoy Alps; but, on the other hand, the 

 opposite bank of the Tacarigua lake, which is thickly clothed with 

 plantains, mimosas, and triplaris, far surpasses in picturesque beauty 

 the vineyards of the Pays de Vaud. The lake is about thirty 

 geographical miles in length, and is full of small islands, which, as 

 the loss of water by evaporation exceeds the influx, are increasing 

 in size. Within some years, sand banks have even become real 

 islands, and have received the significant name of the " Newly Ap- 

 peared/' Las Aparecidas. On the island of Cura, the remarkable 

 species of Solanum is cultivated which has edible fruit, and which 

 Wildenow has described in the Hortus Berolinensis (1816, Tab. 

 xxvii.). The height of the Lake of Tacarigua above the sea is 

 almost 1400 French feet, (according to my measurement exactly 

 230 toiseSj or 1470 English feet,) less than the mean height of the 

 valley of Caraccas, The lake has several kinds of fish (see my Ob- 

 servations de Zoologie et d' Anatomic comparee, T. ii. pp. 179-181), 

 and is one of the most pleasing natural scenes which I know in any 

 part of the globe. In bathing, Bonpland and myself were often 

 alarmed by the appearance of the Bava, an undescribed crocodile- 

 like lizard, three or four feet in length, of repulsive aspect, but 

 harmless to men. We found in the lake a Typha (Cats-tail), iden- 

 tical with the European Typha angustifolia; a singular fact, and 

 important in reference to the geography of plants. 



Two varieties of sugar-cane- are cultivated near the lake, in the 

 valleys of Aragua: the common sugar-cane of the West Indies, 

 Caiia criolla : and the cane recently introduced from the Pacific, 

 Cana de Otaheiti. The verdure of the Tahitian cane is of a much 

 lighter and more agreeable tint, and a field of it can readily be dis- 



