PHOGBESSIVE VEGETATION. 
207 
ground : man has there less extended his empire; he 
may bo said to appear, not as ail absolute master, who 
< hunges at v\ ill the surface of the soil, but as a transient 
guest, who quietly enjoys the gifts of nature. There, in the 
neighbourhood of the most populous cities, the land remains 
studded with forests, or covered with a thick mould, unfur. 
rowed by the plough. Spontaneous vegetation still predo- 
minates over cultivated plants, and determines the aspect 
of the landscape. It is probable that this state of things 
will cnange very slowly. If in our temperate regions the 
cultivation of corn contributes to tlnow a dull uniformity 
upon the land we have cleared, we cannot doubt, that, eveii 
with increasing population, the torrid zone will preserve that 
majesty of vegetable forms, those marks of an unsubdued, 
virgin nature, which render it so attractive and so pictu- 
resque. lhus it is that, by a remarkable concateuatiou of 
physical and moral causes, the choice aud production of ali- 
mentary plants have an influence on three important objects 
at once ; the association or the isolated state of families, the 
more or less rapid progress of civilization, and the individual 
character of the landscape. 
In proportion as we penetrated into the forest, the baro- 
meter indicated the progressive elevation of the land. The 
trunks of the trees presented here a n extraordinary pheno- 
menon ; a gramineous plant, with verticillate branches,* 
climbs, like a liana, eight or ten feet high, and forms festoons, 
which cross the path, and swing about with the wind. We 
halted, about three o’clock in the afternoon, on a small flat, 
known by the name of Quetepe, aud situated about one 
hundred and ninety toises above the level of the sea. A few 
small houses have been erected near a spring, well known by 
the natives for its coolness and great salubrity. We found 
the water delicious. Its temperature was only 22-5° of the 
centigrade thermometer, while that of the air was 28'7°. 
I he springs which descend from the neighbouring mountains 
ot a greater height often indicate a too rapid decrement of 
i eat. It indeed we suppose the mean temperature of the 
" ;, ter on the coast of Cumana equal to 2l>°, we must conclude, 
unless other local causes modify the temperature of tho 
• Cartce, analogous to the chutyue of Santa Fe, of the group of the 
Nastniws. This gramineous plant i* excellent pasture for mules. 
