262 
INMATES OF THE CONTENT. 
descending into the valley, they follow the sinuosities of the 
torrents. 
We were received with great hospitality by the monks 
of Caripe. The building has an inner court, surrounded 
by an arcade, like the convents in Spain. This enclosed 
place was highly convenient for setting up our instruments 
and making observations. We found a numerous society 
in the convent. Young monks, recently arrived from Spain, 
were just about to settle in the Missions, while old infirm 
missionaries sought for health in the fresh and salubrious 
air of the mountains of Caripe. I was lodged in the cell 
of the superior, whieh contained a pretty good collection of 
books. I found there, to my surprise, the Teatro Gritico 
of i'oijoo, the Lettres JEdi/tantes, and the Traite d'Elec- 
tricite by abbe Nollet. It seemed as if the progress of 
knowledge advanced even in the forests of America. The 
youngest of the capuchin monks of the last Mission had 
brought with him a Spanish translation of Chaptal’s Treatise 
on Chemistry, and he intended to study this work in the 
solitude where he was destined to pass the remainder of his 
days. During our long abode in the Missions of South 
America we never perceived any sign of intolerance. The 
monks of Caripe were not ignorant that I was born in the 
protestant part of Germany. Furnished as I was with orders 
from the court of Spain, I had no motives to conceal from 
them this fact ; nevertheless, no mark of distrust, no indis- 
creet question, no attempt at controversy, ever diminished 
the value of the hospitality they exercised with so much 
liberality and frankness. 
The convent is founded on a spot which was anciently 
called Areocuar. Its height above the level of the sea is 
nearly the same as that of the town of Caracas, or of the 
inhabited part of tho Blue Mountains of Jamaica. Thus 
the mean temperatures of these three points, all situated 
within the tropics, are nearly the same. The necessity of 
being well clothed at night, and especially at sun-'se, is 
felt at Caripe. We saw the centigrade thermometer at 
midnight, between 16° and 17*5° ; in the morning, between 
19° and 20°. About one o’clock it had risen only to 21°, 
or 22'5°. This temperature is sufficient for the develop- 
ment of the productions of the torrid zone; though, com- 
