ATEEAOE OF DEPTH. 15 



prise cannot be denied, particularly ty havi'ig recourse to 

 tunnels, or subterranean canals. The progressive retieat oi 

 the waters has given birth to the beiutiful. and Itu.uriant 

 plains of Maracay, Cura, Mocundo, GKiigue, and Santa Cruz 

 del Escoval, planted wit 1 ! tobacco, sugair-canes, coffee, indigo, 

 and cacao ; but how can it be doubted for a momrnt that 

 the lake alone spreads fertility over tiis country ? If de- 

 prived of the enormous mass of vapOTir which th'j surface 

 of the waters sends forth daily into i'ne s.;:nosphere, the 

 valleys of Aragua would become as dry and barren as the 

 surrounding mountains. 



The mean depth of the lake is from twelve to fifteen 

 fathoms ; the deepest parts are not, as is generally admitted, 

 eighty, but thirty-five or forty deep. Such is the result of 

 soundings made with the greatest care by Don Antonio 

 Manzano. When we reflect on the vast depths of all the 

 lakes of Switzerland, which, notwithstanding their position 

 in high valleys, almost reach the level of the Mediterranean, 

 it appears surprising that greater cavities are not found at 

 the Dottom of the lake of Valencia, which is also an Alpine 

 lake. The deepest places are between the rocky island of 

 BUITO and the point of Cana Fistula, and opposite the high 

 mountains of Mariara. But in general the southern part 

 of the lake is deeper than the northern : nor must we forget 

 that, if all the shores be now low, the southern part of the 

 basin is the nearest to a chain of mountains with abrupt 

 declivities ; and we know that even the sea is generally 

 deepest where the coast is elevated, rocky, or perpendicular. 



The temperature of the lake at the surface during my 

 abode in the valleys of Aragua, in the month of February, 

 was constantly from 23 to 237, consequently a little below 

 the mean temperature of the air. This may be from the 

 effect of evaporation, which carries off caloric from the air 

 and the water ; or because a great mass of water does not 

 follow with an equal rapidity the changes in the tempera- 

 ridge, and on its southern declivity, no point of level corresponding to 

 the 182 toises, except near San Juan. The absolute height of this village 

 is 194 toisee. But. I repeat that, farther towards the west, in the country 

 between the Caflo de Cambury and the sources of the Rio Pao, which I 

 was not able to visit, the point of level of the bottom of the lake ia much 

 farther north. 



