222 
TOWN OF CUMANACOA. 
men is much more frequent than among the more southern 
nations : yet the Russians hare never been deemed weak and 
effeminate. There is among the varieties of the human 
species a race of men whose breasts at the age of puberty 
acquire a considerable bulk. Lozano did not belong to that 
race ; and he often repeated to us his conviction, that it was 
only the irritation of the nipple, in consequence of the suc- 
tion, which caused the flow of milk. 
When we reflect on the whole of the vital phenomena, we 
find that no one of them is entirely isolated. In every age 
examples are cited of very young girls and women in ex- 
treme old age, who have suckled children. Among men 
these examples are more rare; and after numerous^. Re- 
searches, I have not found above two or three. One is 
cited by the anatomist of Verona, Alexander Benedictus, 
who lived about the end of the fifteenth century. He 
relates the history of an inhabitant of Syria, who, to calm 
the fretfulness of his child, after the death of the mother, 
pressed it to his bosom. The milk soon became so abun- 
dant, that the father could take on himself the nourish- 
ment of his child without assistance. Other examples are 
related by Santorellus, Faria, and Robert, bishop of Cork. 
The greater part of these phenomena having been noticed 
in times very remote, it is not uninteresting to physiology, 
that we can confirm them in our own days. 
On approaching the town of Cumanacoa we found a more 
level soil, and a valley enlarging itself progressively. This 
small town is situated in a naked plain, almost circular, and 
surrounded by lofty mountains. It was founded in 1717 by 
Domingo Arias, on the return of an expedition to the mouth 
of the Guarapiche, undertaken with the view of destroying 
an establishment which some French freebooters had at- 
tempted to found. The new town was first called San Bal- 
tazar de las Arias ; but the Indian name Cumanacoa pre- 
vailed ; in like manner the name of Santiago de Leon, still 
to be found in our maps, is forgotten in that of Caracas. 
On opening the barometer we were struck at seeing the 
column of mercury scarcely 7-3 lines shorter than on the 
coasts. The plain, or rather the table-land, on which the 
town of Cumanacoa is situated, is not more than 104 toises 
above the level of the sea, which is three or four times less 
