336 



vised us to fill our hats with the leaves of the 

 rhopala, to diminish the action of the solor rays 

 on the hair and the crown of the head. We 

 found relief from this expedient, which seemed 

 to us particularly excellent, when we could pro- 

 cure the leaves of the pothos or some other 

 aroidea. 



It is impossible to cross these burning plains, 

 without inquiring whether they have always 

 been in the same state; or whether they have 

 been stripped of their vegetation by some revo- 

 lution of nature. The stratum of mould now 

 found on them is in fact veiy thin. The natives 

 believe, that the palmares and the chaparales 

 (the little groves of palm-trees and rhopala) were 

 more frequent and more extensive before the 

 , arrival of the Spaniards. Since the Llanos have 

 been inhabited and peopled with cattle become 

 wild, the savannah is often set on fire, in order 

 to meliorate the pasturage. Groups of scattered 

 trees are accidentally destroyed with the gra- 

 mina. The plains were no doubt less bare in the 

 fifteenth century, than they now are ; yet the 

 first Conquistador es, who came from Coro, de- 

 scribed them then as savannahs, where nothing 

 could be perceived but the sky and the turf, 

 which were generally destitute of trees, and dif- 

 ficult to traverse on account of the reverbera- 

 tion from the soil. Why does not the great 

 forest of the Oroonoko extend to the North, on 



