454 



national writer # compares the situation of Ca- 

 raccas to the terrestrial Paradise, and recognizes 

 in the Anauco and the neighbouring torrents the 

 four rivers of the Garden of Eden. 



It is to be regretted, that such a temperate 

 climate is generally inconstant and variable. 

 The inhabitants of Caraccas complain of having 

 several seasons in the same day ; and of the 

 rapid change from one season to another. In 

 the month of January for instance, a night, of 

 which the mean temperature is 16°, is followed 

 by a day, when the thermometer during eight 

 successive hours keeps above 22° in the shade. 

 In the same day, we find the temperature of 

 24° and 18°. These oscillations are extremely 

 common in our temperate climate of Europe, 

 but under the torrid zone, the Europeans them- 

 selves are so accustomed to the uniform action 

 of exterior stimulus, that they suffer from a 

 change of temperature of 6°. At Cumana, and 

 every where in the plains, the temperature from 

 eleven in the morning to eleven at night changes 

 only 2° or 3°. Moreover, these variations act 

 on the human frame at Caraccas more violently 

 than could be supposed from the mere indica- 

 tions of the thermometer. In this narrow valley 

 the atmosphere is in some sort balanced be- 



* The Historiographer of Venezuela, Jose de Oviedo y 

 Banos. 



