102 tiik zamam; del hi avi;k. 



al the elevatioo of eighteen thousand feet^ the barking 

 of dogs is sometimes heard. 



They did no1 arrive till ten at nighi at the bottom of 

 the valley. They were overcome with fatigue and thirst, 

 having walked for fifteen hoars, nearly without stopping. 

 The Boles of their feet were cut and torn by the asperi- 

 ties of a rocky soil and the hard and dry stalks, for they 

 had been obliged to pull off their boots, the soles having 

 become too slippery. 



They passed the night at the foot of the Saddle. 



On the 7th of February they departed from Caracas, 

 < n route for the banks of the Orinoco. Nothing worthy 

 of note occurred for several days. 



Not far from the village of Turmero, they discovered 

 at a league distant, an object, which appeared at the 

 horizon like a round hillock, or tumulus, covered with 

 vegetation. It was neither a hill, nor a group of trees 

 close to cadi other, but one single tree, the famous 

 Zamang del Guayrc, known throughout the province for 

 the enormous extent of its branches, which formed a 

 hemispheric head live hundred and seventy-six feet in 

 circumference. The zamang is a fine species ^f mimosa, 

 and its tortuous branches are divided by bifurcation. 

 delicate and tender foliage was agreeably relieved on 

 the azure of the sky. They stopped a long time under 

 this etable roof. The trunk of the Zamang del Guavre 



was only sixty feet high, and nine thick ; its real beauty 



consisted in the form of its head. The branches ex- 

 tended like an immense umbrella, and bent toward the 

 "Hid, from which they remained at a uniform distance 

 of twelve or hit. 'en fret. The circumference of this 

 head was so regular, that, having traced different diame- 



