> 



121 



walking sometimes in the water, which was 

 shallow, sometimes between the torrent and a 

 wall of rocks, on a soil extremely slippery and 

 miry. The falling down of the earth, the scat- 

 tered trunks of trees over which the mules 

 could scarcely pass, the creeping plants that 

 covered the ground, rendered this part of the 

 road fatiguing. We were surprised to find here, 

 at scarcely 500 toises of elevation above the le- 

 vel of the sea, a cruciferous plant, raphanus 

 pinnatus. It is well known how scarce the 

 plants of this family are between the tropics ; 

 they display in some sort a northern form, and 

 as such we never expected to see it on the plain 

 of Caripe at so little an elevation. Those 

 northern forms seem also to appear in the ga- 

 lium caripense, the Valeriana scandens, and a 

 sanicle not unlike the s. marilandica. 



At the foot of the lofty mountain of Guacharo, 

 we were only four hundred steps from the ca- 

 vern, without yet perceiving the entrance. The 

 torrent runs in a crevice, which has been hol- 

 lowed out by the waters ; and we went on under 

 a cornice, the projection of which prevented 

 us from seeing the sky. The path winds like 

 the river : at the last turning we came suddenly 

 before the immense opening of the grotto. The 

 aspect of this spot is majestic even to the eye of 

 a traveller accustomed to the picturesque scenes 

 of the higher Alps. I had before this seen the 



