56 



CHAPTER XV. 



Departure from Caraccas. — Mountains of San 

 Pedro and of Los Teques. — La Victoria.— 

 Valleys of Aragua. 



To take the shortest road from Caraccas to 

 the banks of the Oroonoko, we should have 

 crossed the southern chain of mountains be- 

 tween Baruta, Salamanca, and the savannahs 

 of Ocumare ; traversed the steppes or Llanos 

 of Orituca; and embarked at Cabruta, near 

 the mouth of the Rio Guarico *. But this direct 

 road would have deprived us of the opportunity 

 of surveying the finest and most cultivated part 

 of the province, the valleys of Aragua ; of taking 

 the level of an important part of the chain of the 

 coast by means of the barometer ; and of de- 

 scending the Rio Apure as far as it's junction 

 with the Oroonoko. A traveller, who has the 

 intention of studying the configuration and 



* See chap, xii, vol. iii, p. 446; and the sketch of the 

 valley of Caraccas, and the map of the lower Oroonoko in the 



Atlas Geographique. 



