57 



natural riches of a country, is not guided by 

 distances, but by the interest which the regions 

 he may traverse excites in his mind. This 

 powerful motive led us to the mountains of Los 

 Teques, to the thermal springs of Mariara, to 

 the fertile banks of the lake of Valencia, and 

 through the immense savannahs of Calabozo to 

 San Fernando de Apure, in the eastern part of 

 the province of Varinas. Following this road, 

 our first direction was to the West, then to the 

 South, and finally to the East-South-East, to 

 enter the Oroonoko by the Apure in the latitude 

 of 7° 36' 23". 



In a journey of six or seven hundred leagues, 

 the longitude being determined by the time- 

 keeper from the points of Caraccas and Cumana, 

 it became indispensable to fix with precision, 

 and by particular observations, the situation of 

 these two places. I have given above in the 

 tenth chapter* the result of the astronomical 

 observations made at the first point of departure, 

 Cumana ; the second point, the northernmost 

 part of Caraccas, is situate in 10° SO' 50" of 

 latitude, and 69° 25 7 of longitude -f. I found 



* See vol. iii, p. 313. 



+ Mr. Ferrer, who made his observations at the Custom 

 house, found for the latitude 10° 30/ 24" ; and by the time- 

 keeper, setting out from Porto-Rico (and admitting this 

 place to be in 68° 28 / W% for the longitude 69° 23'. Ob- 



