1(12 VILLA DE CURA. 



CHAP. XV. a f«.male is ou the point of bringing forth, the howlings 

 — ' are suspended till the moment when the young appear. 

 \iiiaccof I'li^ travellers passed the night at the village of 



Guifuc Guigue near the lake, where they lodged with an old 

 sergeant, a native of jMurcia, who amused them Avith a 

 recital of the history of the world in Latin, which he 

 had learned among the Jesuits. Leaving this place, 

 they began to ascend the chain of mountains which ex- 

 tends towards La Palma, and from the top of an elevated 

 platform took tlieir last view of the valleys of Aragua. 

 The rock was gneiss with auriferous veins of quartz. 

 Arriving at the hamlet of Maria Magdalena, they were 

 stopped by the inhabitants, who wanted to force their 

 muleteers to hear mass. Seven miles farther on they 

 came to the Villa de Cura, situated in an arid valley al- 

 most destitute of vegetation. Here they remained for 

 the night, and joined an assembly of nearly all the re- 

 sidents in the town, to admire in a magic-lantern a view 

 of the great capitals of Europe. This place, which 

 contains a population of four thousand, is celebrated for 

 the miracles performed by an image of the Virgui found 

 by an Indian in a ravine. 



Continuing to descend the southern declivity of the 



^ illape of . 



Sau Juan, range, they passed part of the night of the 11th at the 

 village of San Juan, remarkable for its hot springs and 

 tlie singular form of two mountains in the neighbour- 

 hood, called the Morros, which rise like slender peaks 

 from a wall of rocks. At two in the morning they con- 

 tinued their jouniey by Ortiz and Parapara to the Mesa 

 de Paja. The ground over wliich they travelled forms 

 the ancient bhore of the Llanos ; and, as the chain has 

 now been traversed, it may be interesting to present a 

 brief view of its geological constitution. 

 Owiineical ^^ *^'*^ Sierra de Mariara, near Caraccas, the rock is 



fcaiujci coarse-grained gi-anite. The valleys of Aragua, the 

 shores of the Lake of "Valencia, its islands, and the 

 southern branch of the coast-chain, are of gneiss and 

 mica-slate, which are auriferous. At San Juan some of 

 tbe rocks were gneiss passing into mica-slate. Ou the 



