413 



in my time * along the road, there is still an 

 ascent of one hundred and fifty toises to reach 

 Guayavo. This is nearly the most lofty point 

 of the way. I carried the barometer still far- 

 ther, a little above La Cumbre -f, to the little 

 fort of La Cuchilla. Being without a passport 

 (for during five years I had never needed one, 

 but at the moment of disembarking), I had 

 nearly been arrested by a post of artillerymen. 

 To calm the anger of these old soldiers I trans- 

 lated for them into Castillian varas the number 

 of toises their post was above the level of the 

 sea. This seemed however to interest them 

 little, and I owed my liberty solely to an Anda- 

 lusian, who became very tractable, when I told 

 him, that the mountains of his countrv, the 

 Sierra Nevada of Grenada, were far more loftv 

 than all the mountains in the province of Ca- 

 raccas. 



The fort of Cuchilla is of the height of 

 the top of the Puy de Dome; or nearly one 

 hundred and fifty toises lower than the post- 

 house of Mount Cenis. The town of Carac- 

 cas, the Venta del Guayavo, and the port of 

 La Guayra, being so near each other, Mr. 

 Bonpland and I wished to have observed si- 

 multaneously, during a few successive days, 

 the extent of the little barometrical tides, in 



* They are almost all destroyed at present, 

 t The top, the summit. 



