498 INFLUENCE OF AGRICULTURE ON CLIMATE. 



was enough to compare the statements of older writers with its con • 

 dition at this time, to obtain conviction that the waters had, in fact, 

 rery much diminished. Oviedo, for instance, who visited the valley 

 frequently towards the end of the sixteenth century, says, that the 

 town of New Valencia was founded in 1555, at the distance of half a 

 league from the lake ; in 1800, M. de Humboldt ascertained that the 

 lake was upwards of 549 yards, or upwards of 3y miles, instead of 

 about If mile from its banks. 



The appearance of the surface also gives new proof of the fact of 

 the recession of the water ; certain hillocks which rise in the plain 

 still preserve the title of islands, which, undoubtedly, they formerly 

 received with propriety, when they were surrounded by water. The 

 land which had been left by the retreat of the lake, soon became 

 transformed into beautiful plantations of cotton-trees, bananas, and 

 sugar-canes. Buildings which had been erected on the banks were 

 left, year after year, further and further from them. In 1796, new 

 islets made their appearance. An important military position, a for- 

 tress built in 1740, in the Isle de la Cabrera, was then upon a penin- 

 sula. Finally, in two islets of granite, M. de Humboldt discovered, 

 several yards above the level of the lake, a bed of fine sand, mixed 

 with fresh-water shells. These facts, so certain, so unquestionable, 

 did not pass without numerous explanations from the wise men of 

 the country, who, as if by common consent, fixed upon a subterra- 

 nean exit for the waters of the lake. M. de Humboldt, after the 

 most careful examination of all the circumstances, did not hesitate 

 to ascribe the diminution of the waters of the lake Valencia to the 

 extensive clearings which had been effected in the course of half a 

 century in the Aragua valley. " In felling the trees which covered 

 the crowns and slopes of the mountains," says this celebrated 

 traveller, *' men in all climates seem to be bringing upon future 

 generations two calamities at once — a want of fuel and a scarcity 

 of water."* 



In the year 1800, the population of this favored valley, where the 

 cultivation of indigo, of cotton, of cocoa, and the cane had made im- 

 mense progress, was as dense as it was in the most thickly popula- 

 ted districts of England or France, and every one was delighted 

 with the appearance of comfort that prevailed in the numerous villa- 

 ges of this industrious country. 



Twenty-five years after M. de Humboldt, I explored in my turn 

 the Valley d'Aragua, having fixed my residence in the little town of 

 Maracaibo. The inhabitants had now remarked that for several 

 years, not only had the lake ceased to diminish, but that it had even 

 risen very perceptibly. Some fields that were formerly covered with 

 cotton plantations were now submerged. The Isles de las Nuevas 

 Aparacidas, which had risen from the waters in 1796, had again be- 

 come shoals dangerous to navigation ; the tongue of earth, De la 

 Cacrera, on the north side of the valley, had become so narrow that 

 tl)6 gligh est rise in the water of the lake covered it completely ; a 



• Humboldt, vol v. p. 173. 



I 



