MOUNTAINS OF ARAGUA. 161 



is on the point of bringing forth, the howlings are 

 suspended till the moment when the young appears. 



The travellers passed the night at the village of 

 Guigue, near the lake, where they lodged with an 

 old sergeant, a native of Murcia, who amused them 

 with a recital of the history of the world in Latin, 

 which he had learned among the Jesuits. Leaving 

 this place, they began to ascend the chain of moun- 

 tains which extends towards La Palma, and from 

 the top of an elevated platform took their last view 

 of the valleys of Aragua. The rock was gneiss with 

 auriferous veins of quartz. Arriving at the hamlet 

 of Maria Magdalena, they were stopped by the in- 

 habitants, who wanted to force their muleteers to 

 hear mass. Seven miles farther on they came to 

 the Villa de Cura, situated in an arid valley almost 

 destitute of vegetation. Here they remained for 

 the night, and joined an assembly of nearly all the 

 residents in the town to admire in a magic-lantern 

 a view of the great capitals of Europe. This place, 

 which contains a population of four thousand, is 

 celebrated for the miracles performed by an image 

 of the Virgin found by an Indian in a ravine. 



Continuing to descend the southern declivity of 

 the range, they passed part of the night of the llth 

 at the village of San Juan, remarkable for its hot 

 springs and the singular form of two mountains in 

 the neighbourhood, called the Morros, which rise 

 like slender peaks from a wall of rocks. At two in 

 the morning they continued their journey by Ortiz 

 and Parapara to the Mesa de Paja. The ground over 

 which they travelled forms the ancient shore of the 

 llanos ; and as the chain has now been traversed, it 

 may be interesting to present a brief view of its geo- 

 logical constitution. 



In the Sierra de Mariara, near Caraccas, the rock 



is coarse-grained granite. The valleys of Aragua, 



the shores of the Lake of Valencia, its islands, and 



the southern branch of the coast chain, are of gneiss 



02 



