166 DEPARTURE FROM CARACCAS. 
CHAPTER XIV. 
Journey from Caraccas to the Lake of Valencia. 
Departure from Caraccas—La Buenavista—Valleys of San Pedro 
and the Tuy—Manterola—Zamang-tree—Valleys of Aragua— 
Lake of Valencia—Diminution of its Waters—Hot Springs— 
Jaguar—New Valencia— Thermal Waters of La Trimchera— 
Porto Cabello—Cow-tree—Cocoa-plantations—General View of 
the Littoral District of Venezuela. 
Leavine the city of Caraccas, on their way to the 
Orinoco, our travellers slept the first night at the 
base of the woody mountains which close the valley 
toward the south-west. They followed the right bank 
of the Rio Guayra, as far as the village of Antimano, 
by an excellent road, partly scooped out of the rock. 
The mountains were all of gneiss or mica-slate. A 
little before reaching that hamlet they observed two 
large veins of gneiss in the slate, containing balls of 
granular diabase or greenstone, composed of felspar 
and hornblende, with garnet disseminated. In 
the vicinity all the orchards were full of peach-trees 
covered with flowers. Between Antimano and Ajun- 
tas, they crossed the Rio Guayra seventeen times, 
and proceeded along the bottom of the valley. 
The river was bordered by a gramineous plant, the 
Gynerium saccharoides, which sometimes reaches 
the height of 32 feet, while the huts were sur- 
rounded by enormous trees of Laurus persed, 
