81 



fibres of the full-grown leaves furnish cords of 

 extraordinary strength*. Leaving the moun- 

 tains of Higuerota and Los Teques, we entered 

 a highly cultivated country, covered with ham- 

 lets and villages ; several of which would in 

 Europe be called towns. From East to West, on 

 a line of twelve leagues, we passed La Victoria, 

 San Matheo, Turmero, and Maracay, containing 

 together more than 28,000 inhabitants. The 

 plains of the Tuy may be considered as the 

 eastern extremity of the valleys of Aragua, 

 extending from Guigne, on the borders of the 

 lake of Valencia, as far as the foot of Las 

 Cocuyzas. A barometrical measurement gave 

 me 295 toises for the absolute height of the 

 Voile del Tuy, near the farm of Manterola, and 

 222 toises for that of the surface of the lake. 

 The Rio Tuy, flowing from the mountains of 

 Las Cocuyzas, runs first toward the West, then 

 turning to the South, and to the East, it takes 

 it's direction along the high savannahs of Ocu- 

 mare, receives the waters of the valley of Carac- 

 cas, and reaches the sea near Cape Codera. It 

 is the small portion of it's basin directed toward 

 the West, that, geologically speaking, would 

 seem to belong to the valley of Aragua, if the 



* At the clock of the cathedral of Caraccas, a cord of 

 maguey, five limes in diameter, has sustained for fifteen 

 years a weight of 350 pounds. 



VOL. IV. G 



