96 i HE GATE OP 'mi: SADDLE. 



had filled up the furrows hollowed ou1 by the waters, the 

 flame appeared in a dark night like currents of lava sus- 

 pended over the valley. The vivid but steady light 

 assumed a reddish tint, when the wind, descending from 

 the Saddle, accumulated streams of vapour in the low 

 resrions. At other times these Luminous hands, enve- 

 loped in thick clouds, appeared only at intervals where it 

 was dear; and as the clouds ascended their edges re- 

 flected a splendid light These various phenomena, so 

 common in the tropics, acquired additional interest from 

 the form of the mountains, the direction of the slopes, 

 and the height of the savannahs covered with alpine 

 grasses. During the day, the wind of Petare, blowing 

 from the east, drove the smoke towards the town, and 

 diminished the transparency of the air. 



On the morning of the 3d of January they commenced 

 the ascent ^i' the Saddle, a celebrated mountain near 

 Caracas. The party consisted of eighteen persons, and 

 they all walked one behind another, in a narrow path, 

 traced <>n a steep acclivity, covered with turf. They 

 reached a hill, connected with the body of the mountain, 

 and called the Gate of the Saddle. Here they crossed a 

 narrow dyke of rocks, which led to the ridge of the 

 mountain, and Looked down on two valleys, tilled with 

 thick vegetation. In one of these valleys they heard the 

 roaring of waterfalls, which they could not see, they were 



thickly hidden in groves of fig-trees. 



Prom the (hite of the Saddle the steepness of the 

 ascent increased, and they were obliged to incline their 

 bodies considerably forwards ;is they advanced. They 

 fell the want <>f cramp-irons, or sticks shod with iron. 

 Short grass covered the rocks of gneiss, and it was 



