142 DEPARTURE FROM CARACCAS. 



quent shocks occurred, and a discharge of ashes> 

 attended with a tremendous bellowing, followed on 

 the 27th April next year. On the 30th the lava 

 flowed, and after a course of four hours reached the 

 sea. The explosions resembled alternate volleys 

 of very large camion and musketry. As the space 

 between the volcano of St. Vincent and the Rio 

 Apure is 725 miles, these were heard at a distance 

 equal to that betw r een Vesuvius and Paris, and must 

 have been propagated by the earth, and not by 

 the air. 



After adducing numerous instances of the coinci- 

 dence of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, Hum- 

 boldt endeavours to prove that subterranean com- 

 munications extend to vast distances, that the phe- 

 nomena of volcanoes and earthquakes are intimately 

 connected, and that the latter have certain lines of 

 direction. 



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 Trinchera— Porto Cabello— Cow-tree— Cocoa- 

 plantations— General View of the Littoral District of Venezuela. 



Leaving 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 

 towards the south-w r est. They followed the right 

 bank of the Rio Guayra, as far as the village Anti- 

 mano, 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 



