407 



After having described the scenery, and the 

 atmospheric constitution of La Guayra, we shall 

 now leave the coasts of the Caribbean Sea, 

 scarcely to behold them again before our re- 

 turn from the Missions of the Oroonoko. The 

 road that leads from the port to Caraccas, the 

 capital of a government of near 900,000 inhab- 

 itants, resembles, as I have already observed, 

 the passages over the Alps, the road of St. 

 Gothard, and of the Great St. Bernard. Tak- 

 ing the level of the road had never been at- 

 tempted before my arrival in the province of 

 Venezuela. No precise idea had ever been 

 formed of the elevation of the valley of Carac- 

 cas. It had indeed been long observed, that 

 the descent was much less from La Cumbre 

 and Las Vueltas, which is the culminating 

 point of the road toward the Pastora at the en- 

 trance of the valley of Caraccas, than toward 

 the port of La Guayra : but the mountain of 

 Avila having a very considerable bulk, the eye 

 cannot discover at the same time the points to 

 be compared. It is even impossible to form a 

 precise idea of the elevation of Caraccas from 

 the climate of the valley. The air in it is cool- 

 ed by the descending currents of air ; and by 

 the fogs, which envelop the lofty summit of the 

 Silla during a great part of the year. I have 

 often gone on foot from La Guayra to Caraccas; 

 and I sketched a profile of the road, founded on 



