52 



go Arias # , at the return of an expedition to the 

 mouth of the Guarapiche, in order to destroy an 

 establishment, which some French freebooters 

 had attempted to found. The new town w T as 

 first called San Baltazar de las Arias ; but the 

 Indian denomination prevailed : as the name of 

 Santiago de Leon, which is still to be met with 

 in our maps, is forgotten in that of Caraccas. 



On opening the barometer, we were struck at 

 seeing the column of mercury scarcely 7*3 lines 

 shorter than on the coasts : yet the instrument 

 appeared to be no way deranged. The plain, or 

 rather the table-land, on which the town of Cuma- 

 nacoa is situate, is not more than 104 toises above 

 the level of the sea, which is three or four times 

 less than is supposed by the inhabitants of Cuma- 

 na, on account of their exaggerated ideas of the 

 cold of Cumanacoa. But the difference of cli- 

 mate, which is observed between places so near 

 each other, is perhaps less owing to the height 

 of the spot, than to local circumstances ; among 

 which we shall cite the proximity of the forests ; 

 the frequency of descending currents, so com- 

 mon in these valleys, closed on every side ; the 

 abundance of rain ; and those thick fogs, which 



* Father Caulin affirms, that the valley, in which Arias 

 built for the first time, was known very anciently under the 

 name of Cumanacoa. But the inhabitants of Biscay claim 

 the termination coa, as signifying depending on Cumana, as 

 in Jaungoicoa, Basocoa, &c. 



