A SCUAE PLANTATION. 
4V 
Europe, but because the air at tbis period, tbe most distant 
from the rainy season, nearly attains its maximum of dry- 
ness. Only those plants which have very tough and glossy 
leaves resist this absence of humidity. Beneath the fine 
sky of the tropics the traveller is struck with the almost 
hibernal aspect of the country; but the freshest verdure 
again appears when he reaches the banks of the Orinoco, 
where another climate prevails ; and the great forests pre- 
serve by their shade a certain quantity of moisture in the 
soil, by sheltering it from the devouring heat of the sun. 
Beyond the small village of Antimano the valley becomes 
much narrower. The river is bordered with Lata, a fine 
gramineous plant with distich leaves, which sometimes 
reaches the height of thirty feet.* Every hut is surrounded 
with enormous trees of persea,t at the foot of which the 
aristolochias, paullinia, and other creepers vegetate. The 
neighbouring mountains, covered with 'Tests, seem to spread 
humidity over the western extremity of the valley of 
Caracas. We passed the night before our arrival at Las 
A junt as at a sugar-cane plantation. A square house (the 
hacienda or farm of Don F ernando Key-Munoz) contained 
nearly eighty negroes; they were lying on skins of oxen 
spread upon the ground. In each apartment of the house 
were four slaves : it looked like a barrack. A dozen fires 
were burning in the farm-yard, where people were em- 
ployed in dressing food, and the noisy mirth of the blacks 
almost prevented us from sleeping. The clouds hindered 
me from observing the stars; the moon appeared only at 
intervals. The aspect of the landscape was dull and uni- 
form, and all the surrounding hills were covered with aloes. 
Workmen were employed at a small canal, intended for con- 
veying the waters of the Bio San Pedro to the farm, at a 
height of more than seventy feet. According to a baro- 
metric calculation, the site of the hacienda is only fifty 
toises above the bed of the Bio Guayra at La Noria, near 
Caracas. 
The soil of these countries is found to be but little favour- 
able to the cultivation of the cofi'ee-tx-ee, which in general is 
less productive in the valley of Caracas than was imagined 
* G. saccharoides. 
+ Lauras persea (alligator pear). 
