TILE BIUGAJiTINE. 
157 
heated again by the rays of tne sun, emits that musky odour 
which in the torrid zone, ia common to animals of very dif- 
ferent classes, viz.: to the jaguar, the small species of tiger cat, 
the cabiai or thick-nosed tapir,* the galinazo vulture, t the cro- 
codile, the viper, aud the rattlesnake. The gaseous emanations, 
which are the vehicles of this aroma, seem to be evolved in 
proportion only as the mould, containing the spoils of an in- 
numerable quantity of reptiles, worms, and insects, begius to 
be impregnated with water. I have seen Indian children, of 
the tribe of the Chaymas, draw out from the earth and eat 
millepedes or scolopendrasj eighteen inches long, and seven 
lines broad. Whenever the soil is turned up, we are struck 
with the mass of organic substances, which by turns are de- 
veloped, transformed, and decomposed. Nature in these 
climates appears more active, more fruitful, we may even 
say more prodigal, of life. 
On this shore, and near the dairies just mentioned, we enjoy, 
especially at sunrise, a very beautiful prospect over an 
elevated group of calcareous mountains. As this group 
subtends an angle of three degrees only at the house where 
we dwelt, it long served me to compare the variations of the 
terrestrial refraction with the meteorological phenomena. 
Storms are formed in the centre of this Cordillera ; and we 
see from afar thick clouds resolve into abundant rains, 
while during seven or eight months not a drop of water 
falls at Cumana. The Brigantine, which is the highest part 
of this chain, raises itself in a very picturesque manner be- 
hind Brito and Tataraqual. It takes its name from the form 
of a very deep valley on the northern declivity, which re- 
sembles the interior of a ship. The summit of this moun- 
tain is almost bare of vegetation, and is flat like that of 
Mowna-Boa, in the Sandwich Islands. It is a perpendicular 
wall, or, to use a more expressive term of the Spanish navi- 
gators, a table (mesa). This peculiar form, and the sym- 
• Caria capybara, Lin.; chiguire. 
+ Vultur aura, Lin., Zamuro, or Galinazo : the Brazilian vulture o( 
Buffon. I cannot reconcile myself to tlie adoption of names, which 
designate, as belonging to a single country, animals common to a whole 
continent. 
X Scolopendras are very common behind the castle of San Antonio, on 
the summit of the hill. 
