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141 



in 1796, three new islands appeared to the East 

 of the island Caiguira, in the same direction as 

 the islands Burro, Otama, and Zorro. These 

 new islands, called by the people los nuevos 

 Penones, or las Aparecidas from a kind of banks, 

 with surfaces quite flat. They rose already, in 

 1800, more than a foot above the mean level of 

 the waters. 



We observed at the beginning* of this chapter, 

 that the lake of Valencia, like the lakes of the 

 valley of Mexico * forms the centre of a little 

 system of rivers, none of which have any com- 

 munication with the ocean. These rivers for 

 the greater part deserve only the name of tor- 

 rents, or brooks -f-; they are twelve or fourteen 

 in number. The inhabitants, little acquainted 

 with the effects of evaporation, have long- 

 imagined, that the lake has a subterranean 

 outlet, by which a quantity of water runs out 

 equal to that which flows in by the rivers. 

 Some suppose, that this outlet communicates 

 with grottoes, which they place at great depths ; 

 others admit, that the water flows through an 

 oblique channel into the basin of the ocean. 

 These bold hypotheses on the communication 



* Before the opening dug by the Spaniards near Hue- 

 huetoque, and known by the name of Desague Real. 



f The following are their names ; Rios de Aragua, 

 Turmero, Maraeay, Tapatapa, Aguas Calientes, Mariara, 

 Cura, Guacara, Gualaparo, Valencia, Cano grande de 

 C'amburv, &c. 



