A PATHLESS EXPAXSE. 141 



New Barcelona, Venezuela, and Spanish Guiana. 

 Leaving the Caraccas, in January 1800 Humboldt 

 and his companion visited the charming valleys of 

 Araqua and the great lake of Valencia, which in 

 its general appearance resembles that of Geneva, 

 but has its banks clothed with all the luxuriant 

 vegetation of a tropical climate. In Cura, one of 

 its islets, they found cultivated a species of potato, 

 yielding wholesome and pleasant fruit. From 

 thence the travellers, directing their course south- 

 wards, crossed on horseback the vast plains of 

 Caloboza, Apure, and Oroonoko. They next tra- 

 versed the famous Llanos, an immense succession 

 of deserts, stretching nearly 200 miles on a dead 

 level, absolutely destitute of springs or rivulets, 

 and only covered with a tall rank herbage. Over 

 this desolate and pathless expanse they journeyed 

 for whole days, without meeting a single shrub or 

 a solitary cabin to refresh the eye, while they suf- 

 fered extremely from the intense heat. At St 

 Fernando, on the river Apure, they began a most 

 fatiguing navigation of more than 3000 miles, which 

 they performed in canoes. Sailing down the Apure, 

 they entered the Oroonoko at the 7th degree of 

 north latitude, and, remounting that noble stream, 

 passed overland to the sources of the famous Rio 

 Negro. About thirty Indians were employed to 

 carry the canoes through lofty forests to the creek 



