148 



ZAMANG OF GUAVnA. 



CHAP. XIV. 



" we discover, at the distance of a league, an object 

 which appears on the horizon like a round hillock, or u 

 TUeZamaul tu^^uiug covered with vegetation. It is not a hill, 

 however, nor a group of very close trees, but a single 

 tree, the celebrated Zamang of Guayra, known over the 

 whole province for the enormous extent of its branches, 

 which form a hemispherical top 614 feet in circumfer- 

 ence. The zamang is a beautiful species of mimosa, 

 whose tortuous branches divide by forking. Its slim 

 and delicate foliage is agreeably detached on the blue of 

 the sky. We rested a long while beneath this vegetable 

 arch. The trunk of the Guayra zamang, which grows 

 on the road from Tumiero to Maracay, is not more than 

 64 feet high and 9| feet in diameter ; but its real beauty 

 consists in the general form of its top. The branches 

 stretch out like the spokes of a great umbrella, and all 

 incline towards the ground, from which they uniformly 

 remain twelve or fifteen feet distant. The circumfer- 

 ence of the branches or foliage is so regular, that I 

 found the different diameters 205 and 198 feet. One 

 side of the tree was entirely strij^ped of leaves from the 

 effect of drought, while on the other both foliage and 

 flowers remained. The branches were covered with 

 creeping plants. The inhabitants of these valleys, and 

 especially the Indians, have a great veneration for the 

 Guayra zamang, which the first conquerors seem to 

 have found nearly in tlie same state as that in which 

 we now see it. Since it has been attentively observed, 

 no change has been noticed in its size or form. It must 

 be at least as old as the dragon-tree of Orotava. Near 

 Turmero and the Hacienda de Cura there are other trees 

 of the same species, Avith larger trunks ; but their 

 hemisj)herical tops do not spread so widely." 



The valleys of Aragua at this time contained more 

 than 62,000. inliabitants, on a space thirteen leagues in 

 Icngtii and two in breadth ; making 2000 to a square 

 league, which is almost equal to the densest population 

 of France. The houses were all of masonrj', and every 



Effect of 

 drought. 



Population, 



