64 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



of Caracas and eastward "caria brava," Gynerium sagittatum, a grass 

 20 to 30 feet tall, is conspicuous along the streams and in moist 

 ground. It is an unsurpassed soil-binder and is extensively used for 

 roofing. The walls of native huts are commonly built of the canes 

 (fig. 66), sometimes overlaid with sun-baked brick. 



On March 20 Dr. Pittier, his assistant, Miss Luces, and I left 

 La Guaira for the Oriente, as the eastern part of Venezuela is called. 

 The next day we reached Guanta, a little west of Cumana, where 

 Humboldt and Bonpland collected. After passing the low coral hills 

 of the coast, we rode for some 5 hours across the flat plains, which, 

 broken by a few low mesas, extend to the Orinoco. We made our 

 headquarters at San Tome, Estado Anzoatigui, the headquarters of 

 the Mene Grande Oil Company (a subsidiary of the Gulf Oil Com- 

 pany), near Rio Tig-re. The region is a flat, wind-swept savanna with 

 scattered low trees mostly bent toward the west. Much of the grass- 

 land has been burned year after year, and the soil is terribly eroded, 

 the fine topsoil entirely gone, exposing the coarse gravel in many 

 places. Tiny hummocks of Oncostylis paradoxa, a sedge with short, 

 curled foliage, clung to the earth with 2 or 3 inches of burned base 

 exposed by wind erosion. The dominant grasses, those that have 

 withstood repeated burning, are Trachypogon plumosus, originally de- 

 scribed from Cumana, Axonopus anccps, both coarse and hairy, giving 

 a grayish cast to miles of the llanos, Paspalur.i Gardncrianam, and 

 species of Aristida. There were many less abundant grasses, all 

 suffering from the severe drought. These exceedingly dry llanos are 

 flooded during the rainy season, the water, from the Orinoco far to 

 the south, standing a foot or more deep. The surface soil is a fine silt. 

 The land is so flat there is relatively little evidence of the results of 

 water erosion, such as gullies and badlands, the water soaking into 

 the coarse gravel. The best collecting was in the black mucky ground 

 bordering the morichales, groves of Moriche palm ( Alauritia flexuosa) 

 along the rivers. Here I found four grasses new to Venezuela, be- 

 sides an undescribed species of Mesosetum. In a favorable season 

 the San Tome region would be well worth exploring. 



After about a week here we left for the northeast. Some 60 kilo- 

 meters east low mesas begin, badly gullied and deeply cut. There are 

 broad sandy river bottoms, and two wide canyons of red rock or 

 clay, sculptured like miniature Grand Canyons. Toward Maturin 

 the trade winds are much less severe and the country is cultivated. 

 East of Maturin I found a bamboo in flower which turns out to be 

 Guadua paniculata Munro, described from Brazil, and known from 

 but three collections. Northeast of Maturin the country is protected 



