TILLAGE OP OUIOUB. 71 



larynx must necessarily impart to the water poured into it 

 the virtue of curing affections of the lungs. Such is the 

 science of the vulgar, which sometimes resembles that of the 

 ancients. 



We passed the night at the village of Guigue, the latitude 

 of which I found by observations of Canopus to be 10 4' 

 11". The village, surrounded with the richest cultivation, 

 is only a thousand toises distant from the lake of Tacarigua. 

 \\'c lodged with an old sergeant, a native of Murcia, a man 

 of a very original character. To prove to us that he had 

 studied among the Jesuits, he recited the history of the 

 creation of the world in Latin. He knew the names of 

 Augustus, Tiberius, and Diocletian ; and while enjoying the 

 agreeable coolness of the nights in an enclosure planted with 

 bananas, he employed himself in reading all that related to 

 the courts of the Koman emperors. He inquired of us with 

 earnestness for a remedy for the gout, from which he suffered 

 severely. " I know," said he, " a Zambo of Valencia, a 

 famous curioso, who could cure me ; but the Zambo would 

 expect to be treated with attentions which I cannot pay to 

 a man of his colour, and I prefer remaining as I am." 



On leaving Guigue we began to ascend the chain of 

 mountains, extending on the south of the lake towards 

 Guacimo and La Palma. From the top of a table-land, at 

 three hundred and twenty toises of elevation, we saw for the 

 last time the valleys of Aragua. The gneiss appeared unco- 

 vered, presenting the same direction of strata, and the same 

 dip towards the north-west. Veins of quartz, that traverse 

 the gneiss, are auriferous ; and hence the neighbouring 

 ravine bears the name of Quebrada del Oro. We heard with 

 surprise at every step the name of " ravine of gold," in a 

 country where only one single mine of copper is wrought. 

 We travelled five leagues to the village of Maria Magdalena, 

 and two leagues more to the Villa de Cura. It was Sunday, 

 and at the village of Maria Magdalena the inhabitants were 

 assembled before the church. They wanted to force our 

 muleteers to stop and hear mass. We resolved to remain ; 

 but, after a long altercation, the muleteers pursued their 

 way. I may observe, that this is the only dispute in whicli 

 we became engaged from such a cause. Very erroneous ideas 



