107 



the soil, and this happy influence of the climate^ 

 the culture of the sugar-cane is more productive 

 in the valleys of Aragua, than that of corn. 



La Victoria is traversed by the little river 

 Calanchas, running" not into the Tuy, but into 

 the Rio Aragua. It thence results, that this 

 fine country, producing at once sugar and corn, 

 belongs already to the basin of the lake of Va- 

 lencia, to a system of interior rivers, which do 

 not communicate with the sea. The quarter of 

 the town West of the Rio Calanchas is called la 

 otra banda; it is the most commercial part; 

 merchandize is every where exhibited, and 

 ranges of shops form the streets. Two com- 

 mercial roads pass through La Victoria ; that of 

 Valencia, or of Porto Cabello, and the road of 

 Villa de Cura, or of the plains, called camino de 

 los Llanos. We here find more Whites in pro- 

 portion than at Caraccas. We visited at sun- 

 set the little hill of Calvary, where the view is 

 extremely fine and extensive. We discover on 

 the West the smiling valleys of Aragua, a vast 

 space covered with gardens, cultivated fields, 

 clumps of wild trees, farms, and hamlets. 

 Turning toward the South and South-East, we 

 see, extending as far as the eye can reach, 

 the lofty mountains of La Palma, Guayraima, 

 Tiara, and Guiripa, which conceal the immense 

 plains or steppes of Calabozo. This interior 

 chain stretches to the West along the lake of 



