ROBBERS. 291 
and mules, running half wild. No sheep or goats 
were seen, these animals being unable to escape from 
the jaguars. 
On the 15th ‘they arrived at the Villa del Pao, 
where they found some fruit-trees as well as cocoa- 
palms, which properly belong to the coast. As they 
advanced the sky became clearer, the soil more 
dusty, and the atmosphere more fiery. The intense 
heat, however, was not entirely owing to the tem- 
perature of the air, but arose partly from the fine 
sand mingled with it. On the night of the 16th they 
rested at the Indian village of Santa Cruz de Ca- 
chipo. The warmth had increased so much that they 
would have preferred travelling by night; but the 
country was infested by robbers, who murdered the 
whites that fell into their hands. These were male- 
factors who had escaped from the prisons on the 
coast and from the missions, and lived in the Llanos 
in a manner similar to that of the Bedouin Arabs. 
Those vast plains, Humboldt thinks, can hardly 
ever be subjected to cultivation, although he is per- 
suaded that in the lapse of ages, if placed under a | 
government favourable to industry, they will lose 
much of the wild aspect which they have hitherto 
retained. : 
After travelling three days they began to perceive 
the chain of the mountains of Cumana, which sepa- 
rates the Llanos from the coast of the Caribbean Sea. 
It appeared at first like a fog-bank, which by degrees 
condensed, assumed a bluish tint, and became bounded 
by sinuous outlines. Although the Llanos of Ve- 
nezuela are bordered on the south by granitic moun- 
tains, exhibiting in their broken summits traces of 
violent convulsions, no blocks were found scattered 
