170 ZAMANG OF GUAYRA. 
sun’s rays, the heat of which, according to her grand- 
son, kept her alive. As they drew near to Victoria 
the ground became smoother, and resembled the 
bottom of a lake, the waters of which had been 
drained off. The neighbouring hills were composed 
of calcareous tufa. Fields of corn were mingled 
with crops of sugar-canes, coffee, and plantains. 
The level of the country above the sea is only from 
576 to 640 yards; and, except in the district of 
Quatro Villas in the island of Cuba, wheat is scarce- 
ly cultivated in large quantities in any other part 
of the equinoctial regions. La Victoria and the 
neighbouring village of San Matheo yielded 4000 
quintals, or 3622 cwt. annually. It is sown in De- 
cember, and is fit for being cut in seventy or seventy- 
five days. The grain is large and white, and the 
average produce is three or four times as much as 
in Europe. The culture of the sugar-cane, however, 
is still more productive. 
Proceeding slowly on their way, the travellers 
passed through the villages of San Matheo, Tur- 
mero, and Maracay, where every thing was indica- 
tive of prosperity. “ On leaving the village of 
Turmero,” says Humboldt, “ we discover, at the 
distance of a league, an object which appears on the 
horizon like a round hillock, or a tumulus covered 
with vegetation. It is not a hill, however, nora 
group of very close trees, but a single tree, the cele- 
brated Zamang of Guayra, known over the whole 
province for the enormous extent of its branches, 
which form a hemispherical top 614 feet in circum- 
ference. The zamang is a beautiful species of mi- 
mosa, whose tortuous branches divide by forking. 
Its slim and delicate foliage is agreeably detached on 
7 od 
