82 



hills of calcareous tufa, which interrupt the con- 

 tinuity of these valleys between Consejo and La 

 Victoria, did not deserve some consideration. 

 We shall here again remind the reader, that the 

 group of the mountains of Los Teques, eight 

 hundred and fifty toises high, separates two 

 longitudinal valleys, formed in gneiss, granite, 

 and mica-slate ; the easternmost of which, con- 

 taining the capital of Caraccas, is 200 toises 

 higher than the western valley, which may be 

 considered as the centre of agricultural industry. 



Accustomed for a long time to a moderate 

 temperature, we found the plains of the Tuy 

 extremely hot, although the thermometer kept 

 in the day, between eleven in the morning and 

 five in the afternoon, at only 23° or 24°. The 

 nights were of delightful coolness, the tempera- 

 ture falling as low as 17'5° # . As the heat gra- 

 dually abated, the air became more fragrant 

 with the odour of flowers. We remarked above 

 all the delicious perfume of the lirio hermoso*f, a 

 new species of pancratium, of which the flower, 

 eight or nine inches long, adorns the banks of 

 the Rio Tuy. We spent two very agreeable days 

 at the plantation of don Jose de Manterola, who 

 in his youth had accompanied the Spanish em- 

 bassy to Russia. Brought up and patronised by 



* 14« Reaumur, 

 f Pancratium undulatum (Nov. Gen.> vol. i, p. 280). 



