TOBACCO—MOUNTAINS. 93 
that grown here is the most aromatic. The seed is 
sown in the beginning of September, and the coty- 
Jedons appear on the eighth day. The young plants 
are then covered with large leaves to protect them 
from the sun. A month or two after, they are 
transferred to a rich and well-prepared soil, and 
disposed in rows, three or four feet distant from each 
other. The whole is carefully weeded, and the prin- 
cipal stalk is several times topped, until the leaves 
are mature, when they are gathered. They are then 
suspended by threads of the Agave Americana, and 
their ribs taken out; after which they are twisted. 
The cultivation of tobacco was a royal monopoly, 
and employed about 1500 persons. Indigo is also 
raised in the valley of Cumanacoa. 
This singular plain appeared to be the bed of an 
ancient lake. The surrounding mountains are all 
precipitous, and the soil contains pebbles and bivalve 
shells. One of the gaps in the range, they were in- 
formed, was inhabited by jaguars, which passed the 
day in caves, and roamed about the plantations at 
night. The preceding year, one of them had de- 
voured a horse belonging to a farm in the neigh- 
bourhood. The groans of the dying animal awoke 
the slaves, who went out armed with lances and 
large knives, with which they despatched the tiger 
after a vigorous resistance. 
From two caverns in this ravine there at times 
issue flames, which illumine the adjacent moun- 
tains, and are seen to a great distance at night. 
The phenomenon was accompanied by a long-con- 
tinued subterraneous noise at the time of the last 
earthquake. A first attempt to penetrate into this 
pass was rendered unsuccessful, by the strength 
of the vegetation and the intertwining of lianas 
