248 
LAKE OP ASPHALTUM. 
vrc stall speak hereafter, yields a resin very much sought 
after by the PiacJies, or Indian sorcerers; the leaves of 
the latter have the smell of the real cinnamon of Cey- 
lon.* From Punzera the road leads by Terecin and Nueva 
Palencia, (a new colony of Canarians,) to the port of San 
.T uan, situated on the right hank of the river Areo ; and 
it is only by crossing this river in a canoe, that the tra- 
veller can arrive at the famous petroleum springs (or mine- 
ral tar) of the Buen Pastor. They were described to us 
as small wells or funnels, hollowed out by nature in a 
marshy soil. This phenomenon reminded us of the lake 
of asphaltum, or of chapapote, in the island of Trinidad,! 
which is distant from the Buen Pastor, in a straight line, 
only thirty-five sea leagues. 
Having long struggled to overcome the desire we felt to 
descend the Guarapiche to the Golfo Triste, we took the 
direct road to the mountains. The valleys of Guanaguana 
and Canpe are separated by a kind of dyke, or calcareous 
ridge, well known by the name of the CuchillaJ de Guana- 
guana. We found this passage difficult, because at that 
time we had not climbed the Cordilleras ; but it is by no 
means so dangerous as the people at Cumana love to re- 
present it. The path is indeed in several parts only four- 
teen or fifteen inches broad ; and the ridge of the mountain, 
along which the road runs, is covered with a short slip- 
pery turf. The slopes on each side are steep, and the 
traveller, should he stumble, might slide down to the depth 
of seven or eight hundred feet. Nevertheless, the flanks 
of the mountain are steep declivities rather than preci- 
pices ; and the mules _ol this country are so sure-footed 
* Is this the Laurus cinnamomoides of Mutis ? What is that other cin- 
namon tree which the Indians call iuorco, common in the mountains of 
Tocayo, and at the sources of the Rio Uchcre, the bark of winch is mixed 
with chocolate ? Father Caulin gives the name of cuiucay to the Copai- 
fera officinalis, which yields the Balsam of Capivi.— Hist. Corograf., pp. 
24 and 34. ' 
+ Laguna de la Brea, south-east of the port of Naparima. There is 
another spring of asphaltum on the eastern coast of the island, in the bay 
of Mayaro. J 
X Literally “ blade of a knite.*’ Throughout all Spanisr America the 
name of “cuchilla” is given to the ridge of a mountain terminated on 
each side by very steep declivities. 
