2 
J.AKE OF VALENCIA. 
tliis extraordinary configuration of the land, the little rivers 
of the valleys of Aragua form a peculiar system, and direct 
their course towards a basin closed on all sides. These 
rivers do not bear their waters to the ocean ; they are 
collected m a lake ; and subject to the peculiar influence 
of evaporation, they lose themselves, if we may use the 
expression, in the atmosphere. On the existence of rivers 
and lakes, the fertility of the soil and the produce of culti- 
vation in these valleys depend. The aspect of the spot, 
and the experience of half a century, have proved that the 
level of the waters is not invariable ; the waste by evapora- 
tion, and the increase from the waters running into the 
lake, do not uninterruptedly balance each other. The lake 
being elevated one thousand feet above the neighbouring 
steppes of Calabozo, and one thousand three hundred and 
thirty-two feet above the level of the ocean, it has been 
suspected that there are subterranean communications and 
filtrations. The appearance of new islands, and the gradual 
retreat of the waters, have led to the belief that the lake 
may perhaps, in time, become entirely dry. An assemblage 
of physical circumstances so remarkable was well fitted to 
fix my attention on those valleys where the wild beauty of 
nature is embellished by agricultural industry, and the arts 
of rising civilization. 
The lake of Valencia, called Tacarigua by the Indians, 
exceeds in magnitude the lake of Neufchatel in Switzerland ; 
but its general form has more resemblance to the lake of 
Geneva, which is nearly at the same height above the level 
of the sea. As the slope of the ground in the valleys of 
Aragua tends towards the south and the west, that part 
of the basin still covered with water is the nearest to the 
southern chain of the mountains of Gruigue, of Yusma, 
and of (xiiacimo, which stretch towards the high savannahs 
of Ocumare. The opposite banks of the lake of Valencia 
display a singular contrast ; those on the south are desert, 
and almost uninhabited, and a screen of high mountains 
and it is more natural to consider as the limits of the basin of Aragua & 
line drawn through the sources of the streams flowing into the lake of 
Valencia. The charts and sections I have traced of the road from Cara- 
cas to Nueva Valencia, and from Porto Cabello to Villa de Cura, exhibit 
the whole of these geological relations. 
