135 



reestablished ? or may we apprehend, that the 

 lake will entirely disappear ? 



According to astronomical observations* 

 made at La Victoria, Hacienda de Cura, Nueva 

 Valencia, and Guigue, the length of the lake, in 

 it's present state, from Cagua to Guayos, is ten 

 leagues, or twenty-eight thousand eight hundred 

 toises. It's breadth is very unequal. If we judge 

 from the latitudes of the mouth of the Rio Cura 

 and the village of Guigue, it no where surpasses 

 2*3 leagues, or six thousand five hundred toises ; 

 most commonly it is but four or five miles. 

 The dimensions resulting from my observations 

 are much less, than those hitherto adopted by 

 the natives ^. It might be thought, that, to 

 form a precise idea of the progressive diminu- 

 tion of the waters, it would suffice to compare 

 the present dimensions of the lake with those 

 attributed to it by ancient chroniclers; by 

 Oviedo, for instance, in his History of the 

 Province of Venezuela, published about the 

 year 1 723. This writer, in his emphatic style, 

 gives cs this interior sea, this momtruoso cuerpo 

 de la laguna de Valencia" fourteen leagues 

 in length and six in breadth. He relates, 



* The itinerary distances from La Victoria to Cagua, as 

 well as those from Guacara to Moeundo and to Los Guayos, 

 were taken into consideration. Angles were taken at the 

 island of Cura, at Cabo Blanco, and at Moeundo. 



+ Depons, Voijage a La Tent Ferine, vol, i, p. 138. 



