40 VALLEYS OF AEAGUA AND VALENCIA, 



and prosperity. Its population of ten thousand, three- 

 quarters of a century ago, has scarcely doubled. The 

 most prominent part of the place, as of every Spanish 

 towTi, is the Gran Plaza, upon the north side of which 

 stands the catliedral, built more than two centuries ago. 

 On the south is the government-house of Carabobo, of 

 which state Valencia is the capital ; the remaining sides 

 of tlie square are occupied by hotels, shops, and private 

 residences. The city has four churches, and two others 

 in process of erection, but which it is more than probable 

 will never be completed. There is one regular newspaper, 

 but in times of revolution, which is the normal condition 

 of the country, two or tliree'are issued. 



Our first visit from Valencia was to the beautiful Lake 

 of Tacarigua, which, when the city was founded, in 1555, 

 was one-half league to the eastward, but, by the rapid 

 desiccation of that body of water, it is now distant over 

 tAvo and a half leagues. Leaving the city by the road 

 which leads to Victoria, we soon reached Guias, a little 

 village one and a half league from Valencia ; and here, 

 abandoning the main highway, we followed a crooked 

 trail, which took us through a forest tract, then across 

 flourishing plantations of maize, bananas, and groves of 

 cocoa-nut trees, bi-oken by stifling jungles of reeds and 

 bushes. It was noon when we reached the western shores 

 of the lake ; when, oppressed by the heat of mid-day, we 

 threw ourselves beneath the grateful shade of trees at the 

 base of a wooded hill, which was at one time an island of 

 the lake, and enjoyed a view that has but few rivals in 

 beauty or interest upon either continent. Formerly, the 

 shores of the lake were the mountains which now form the 

 boundaries of the valleys of Aragua and Valencia; the 

 geological formations of the mountain-slopes, and their 

 fresh-water fossils (amjniUaria and j^^anorbis), embracing 

 species now inhabiting the lake, are unmistakable evidence 



