

CHANGE OF IT VER-COUE8Eg. 13 



Tinaco, the Guanarito, and the Chilua, falls into the Portu- 

 guesa, which is a branch of the Apure. It is a remarkable 

 phenomenon, that by a particular position of the ground, 

 and the lowering of the ridge of division so south-west, the 

 Kio Pao separates itself from the little system of interior 

 rivers to which it originally belonged, and for a century 

 past has communicated, through the channel of the Apure 

 and the Orinoco, with the ocean. What has been nere 

 effected on a small scale by the hand of man, nature often 

 performs, either by progressively elevating the* level of the 

 soil, or by those falls of the ground occasioned by violent 

 earthquakes. It is probable, that in the lapse of ages, 

 several rivers of Soudan, and of New Holland, which are 

 now lost in the sands, or in inland basins, will open for 

 themselves a course to the shores of the ocean. We cannot 

 at least doubt, that in both continents there are systems of 

 interior rivers, which may be considered as not entirely 

 developed ; and which communicate with each other, either 

 in the time of great risings, or by permanent bifurcations. 



The Rio Pao has scooped itself out a bed so deep and 

 broad, that in the season of rains, when the Cano Grande de 

 Cambury inundates all the land to the north-west of Guigue, 

 the waters of this Cano, and those of the lake of Valencia, 

 flow back into the Eio Pao itself; so that this river, instead 

 of adding water to the lake, tends rather to carry it away. 

 We see something similar in North America, where geo- 

 graphers have represented on their maps an imaginary chain 

 of mountains, between the great lakes of Canada and the 

 country of the Miamis. At the time of floods, the waters 

 flowing into the lakes communicate with those which run 

 into the Mississippi; and it is practicable to proceed by 

 boats from the sources of the river St. Marv to the Wabasli, 

 as well as from the Chicago to the Illinois. These analo- 

 gous facts appear to me well worthy of the attention 01 

 hydrographers. 



The land that surrounds the lake of Valencia being en- 

 tirely flat and even, a diminution of a few inches in the level 

 of the water exposes to view a vast extent of ground covered 

 with fertile mud and organic remains.* In proportion aa 

 the lake retires, cultivation advances towards the new shore. 

 * This I observed daily in the Lake of Mtiico. 



