DESCENT TO THE SEA-COAST. 5X 



and thus ended our unsuccessful and long-to-be-remem- 

 bered tiger-hunt in the mountains of Valencia. 



Our excursions having now embraced most places of 

 interest upon the elevated table-lands of Caracas and the 

 valleys of Aragua and Valencia, we commenced prepara- 

 tions for our journey to the Xilanos of the interior. "We 

 determined, however, before starting, to visit once more 

 the tierra caliente of the coast, in order to acquaint our- 

 selves more fully with its botany and zoology, and that 

 we might also forward to the States the results of our 

 labors thus far, together with the unnecessary baggage, 

 which would prove an encumbrance to us in our long 

 journey to the Amazons. Accordingly, upon the morning 

 of the 7th of September, we left Valencia for Puerto Ca- 

 bello, reaching the summit of the Cordillera, over which 

 the road passes, just in time to witness a glorious sunrise. 

 Leaving the crest, we commenced the descent toward the 

 sea through a deep and at first narrow ravine, the road at 

 times running along the steep slope, overlooking deep 

 gorges, and then descending and following the stream 

 below. The sides of the sierras were clothed with a dense 

 and heavy forest. The trees were hung in drapery of long, 

 gray moss, and decked with garlands of convolvulus, pas- 

 sion-flowers, and an endless variety of parasitic plants. 

 Stately monarchs of the forest, stripped of their branches, 

 and covered fi-om base to summit with climbing verdure, 

 rose like huge green columns in the surrounding woods. 

 Palm-trees, of all tropical vegetation the most majestic and 

 beautiful, lifted high toward the heavens their clusters of 

 rich, rustling verdure. Conspicuous in the midst of the 

 eternal green were seen the white trunks of cecropias, and 

 the branchless stems of the papaw-tree, crowned with its 

 immense leaves and gourd-like fruit. The milky juice of 

 the tree is said to have the efiicacy of making meat tender 

 when boiled in it for a few minutes; and even animals and 



