SUGAR-CANE PLANTATION. 27 



the burning of the savannahs, or wrapped in ruddy 

 oke. At the spot where the bushes were thickest, our 

 rses were frightened by the yell of an animal that seemed 

 follow us closely, ft was a large jaguar, which had 

 amed for three years among these mountains. He had 

 mstantly escaped the pursuits of the boldest hunters, and 

 ad carried oft' horses and mules from the midst of enclo- 

 ; but, having no want of food, had not yet attacked 

 en. The negro who conducted us uttered wild cries, 

 xpecting by these means to frighten the tiger; but his 

 ftbrts were ineffectual. The jaguar, like the wolf of Europe, 

 follows travellers even when he will not attack them; the 

 wolf in the open fields and in unsheltered places, the jaguar 

 skirting the road and appearing only at intervals between 

 the bushes. 



We passed the day on the 23rd in the house of the 

 Marquis de Toro, at the village of Gruacara, a very con- 

 siderable Indian community. An avenue of carolineas leads 

 from Gruacara to Mocundo. It was the first time I had 

 seen in the open air this majestic plant, which forms one 

 of the principal ornaments of the extensive conservatories 

 of Schonbrunn.* Mocundo is a rich plantation of sugar- 

 canes, belonging to the family of Toro. "We there find, 

 what is so rare in that country, a garden, artificial clumps 

 of trees, and on the border of the water, upon a rock of 

 gneiss, a pavilion with a mirador, or belvidere. The view 

 is delightful over the western part of the lake, the surround- 

 ing mountains, and a forest of palm-trees that separates 

 Guacara from the city of Nueva Valencia. The fields of 

 sugar-cane, from the soft verdure of the young reeds, re- 

 semble a vast meadow. Everything denotes abundance; 

 but it is at the price of the liberty of the cultivators. At 

 Mocundo, with two hundred and thirty negroes, seventy- 

 seven tablones, or cane-fields, are cultivated, each of which, 

 ton thousand varas square,f yields a net profit of two 



* Every tree of the Carolinea princeps at ScluJnbrunn has sprung from 

 eeds collected from oiie single tree of enormous size, near Chacao, east 

 of Caracas. 



f A tablon, equal to 1849 square toises, contains nearly an acre and 

 one-fifth : a legal acre has 1344 square toises, and 1*95 legal acre is equal 

 to one hectare. 



