IN SIGHT OF THE TURIMIQUIRI. 71 



of his breast, the father suckled his child two or 

 three times a day during five months. He drew on 

 himself the attention of his neighbours, but he never 

 thought, as he probably would have done in Europe, 

 of deriving any advantage from the curiosity he excited. 

 Humboldt and Bonpland saw the certificate, which had 

 been drawn up on the spot, to attest this remarkable 

 fact, eye-witnesses of which were then living. They 

 assured them that, during this suckling, the child had 

 no other nourishment than the milk of his father. Lo- 

 zano, who was not at Arenas during their journey in 

 the missions, came to them afterwards at Cumana. He 

 was accompanied by his son, then thirteen or fourteen 

 years of age. Bonpland examined with attention the 

 father's breasts, and found them wrinkled like those of a 

 woman who has given suck. He observed that the left 

 breast in particular was much enlarged; which Lozano 

 explained from the circumstance, that the two breasts 

 did not furnish milk in the same abundance. Don 

 Yicente Emparan sent a circumstantial account of this 

 phenomenon to Cadiz. 



As they approached the southern bank of the basin 

 of Cumanacoa, they enjoyed the view of the Turimiquiri. 

 An enormous wall of rocks, the remains of an ancient 

 cliff, rose in the midst of the forests. Farther to the 

 west, at Cerro del Cuchivano, the chain of mountains 

 seemed as if broken by the effects of an earthquake. 

 The crevice, which was more than nine hundred feet 

 wide, was surrounded by perpendicular rocks, and filled 

 with trees, the interwoven branches of which found no 

 room to spread. It appeared like a mine opened by the 

 falling in of the earth. Two caverns opened into this 



