LAKE OF VALENCIA. 



this extraordinary configuration of the land, the little ri 

 of the valleys of Aragua form a peculiar system, and direct 

 their course towards a basin closed on all sides. These 

 rivers do not bear their waters to the ocean ; they are 

 collected in a lake ; and subject to the peculiar influence 

 of evaporation, they lose themselves, if we may use the 

 expression, in the atmosphere. On the existence of rivers 

 and lakes, the fertility of the soil and the produce of culti- 

 vation in these valleys depend. The aspect of the spot, 

 and the experience of half a century, have proved that the 

 level of the waters is not invariable ; the waste by evapora- 

 tion, and the increase from the waters running into the 

 lake, do not uninterruptedly balance each other. The labe 

 being elevated one thousand feet above the neighbouring 

 steppes of Calabozo, and one thousand three hundred and 

 thirty-two feet above the level of the ocean, it has been 

 suspected that there are subterranean communications and 

 nitrations. The appearance of new islands, and the gradual 

 retreat of the waters, have led to the belief that the lake 

 may perhaps, in time, become entirely dry. An assemblage 

 of physical circumstances so remarkable was well fitted to 

 fix my attention on those valleys where the wild beauty of 

 nature is embellished by agricultural industry, and the arts 

 of rising civilization. 



The lake of Valencia, called Tacarigua by the Indians, 

 exceeds in magnitude the lake of Neufchatel in Switzerland ; 

 but its general form has more resemblance to the lake of 

 Geneva, which is nearly at the same height above the level 

 of the sea. As the slope of the ground in the- valleys of 

 Aragua tends towards the south and the west, that* part 

 of the basin still covered with water is the nearest to the 

 southern chain of the mountains of Guigue, of Yusma, 

 and of Guacimo, which stretch towards the high savannahs 

 of Ocurnare. The opposite banks of the lake of Valencia 

 display a singular contrast ; those on the south are desert, 

 and almost uninhabited, and a screen of high momitains 



and it is more natural to consider as the limits of the basin of Aragua a 

 line drawn through the sources of the streams flowing into the lake of 

 Valencia. The charts and sections I have traced of the road from Cara- 

 cas to Nueva Valencia, and from Porto Cabello to Villa de Cura. exhibit 

 the whole of these geological relations. 



