98 SKETCH OP THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS 



descend the Eio Apure, which winds its way 

 through these extensive plains to the mouth of 

 the Orinoco. The same object brought him 

 likewise to the warm springs of Mariara, on the 

 luxuriant shores of the Valencia Sea, and the 

 extensive pastures of Calaboza, in the eastern 

 parts of the province Varinas, and to San Fer- 

 nando de Apure, on the Rio Apure. 



This journey conducted Baron Humboldt, 

 during the month of February 1800, through 

 the valleys of the Tuy, where he visited the 

 sugar-plantations, the gold-mine, the noted 

 zamang-trees, with their gigantic branches, the 

 colonies at Hacienda de Oura, and the cot- 

 ton-plantations near Cura ; he examined the 

 condition of agriculture in these regions, and 

 subsequently reached the Sea of Valencia. 

 Here he commenced important investigations 

 regarding the decrease of the water of this sea ; 

 and discovered the cause in the destruction of 

 the forests, the cultivation of the soil and of 

 indigo, and likewise the dryness of the atmo- 

 sphere. 



In the environs of Mariara, Humboldt 

 found also the lofty tree " Yalador," whose 

 winged fruits he, together with Bonpland, 

 collected and transmitted to Europe, which 

 now grow in the gardens of Berlin, Paris, and 



