SCENERY OF THE LAKE. 



givea th< m a gloomy and monotonous aspect. The northern 

 shore on the contrary, is cheerful, pastoral, and decked with 

 the rich cultivation of the sugar-cane, coffee-tree, and 

 cotton. Paths bordered with cestrums, azedaracs, and other 

 shrubs always in flower, cross the plain, and join the scat- 

 tered farms. Every house is surrounded by clumps of trees. 

 The ceiba with its large yellow flowers* gives a peculiar 

 character to the landscape, mingling its branches with those 

 of the purple erythrina. This mixture of vind vegetable 

 colours contrasts finely with the uniform tint of an un- 

 clouded sky. In the season of drought, where the burning 

 soil is covered with an undulating vapour, artificial irriga- 

 tions preserve verdure and promote fertility. Here and 

 there the granite rock pierces through the cultivated ground. 

 Enormous stony masses rise abruptly in the midst of the 

 valley. Bare and forked, they nourish a few succulent 

 plants, which prepare mould for future ages. Often on the 

 summit of these lonely hills may be seen a fig-tree or a 

 clusia with fleshy leaves, which has fixed its roots in the 

 rock, and towers over the landscape. With their dead and 

 withered branches, these trees look like signals erected on 

 a steep cliff. The form of these mounts unfolds the secret 

 of their ancient origin ; for when the whole of this valley 

 was filled with water, and the waves beat at the foot of the 

 peaks of Mariara (the Devil's Nook)f and the chain of the 

 coast, these rocky hills were shoals or islets. 



These features of a rich landscape, these contrasts be- 

 tween the two banks of the lake of Valencia, often reminded 

 me of the Pays de Vaud, where the soil, everywhere cul- 

 tivated, and everywhere fertile, offers the husbandman, the 

 shepherd, and the vine-dresser, the secure fruit of their 

 labours, while, on the opposite side, Chablais presents only 

 a mountainous and hall-desert country. In these distant 

 climes surrounded by exotic productions, I lored to recall 

 to mind the enchanting descriptions with which the aspect 

 of the Leman lake and the rocks of La Meillerie inspired 

 a great writer. Now, while in the centre of civilized Europe, 

 I endeavour in my turn to paint the scenes of the New 

 World, I do not imagine I present the reader with clearer 



* Camet tollendas (Bombax hibiscifolius). 

 t 1 Rincon del Diablo. 



B 2 



