484. 
TALLEY OF THE KIO TUT. 
between the sources of the Guayra and the Tuy is more 
than twenty-five square leagues in extent. We there found 
only one miserable village, that of Los Teques, south-east 
of San Pedro. The soil is as it were furrowed by a multi- 
tude of valleys, the smallest of which, parallel with each 
other, terminate at right angles in the largest valleys. The 
back of the mountains presents an aspect as monotonous as 
the ravines ; it has no pyramidal forms, no ridges, no steep 
declivities. I am inclined to think that the undulation of 
this ground, which is for the most part very gentle, is less 
owing to the nature of the rocks, (to the decomposition of 
the gneiss for instance), than to the long presence of the 
water and the action of currents. The limestone mountains 
of Cumana present the same phenomenon north of Tumi- 
riquiri. 
From Las Laguuetas we descended into the valley of the 
Kio Tuy. This western slope of the mountains of Los 
Teques bears the name of Las Coeuyzas, and it is covered 
with two plants with agave leaves ; the maguey of Cocwyza, 
and the maguey of Cocvy. The latter belongs to the genus 
Yucca.* Its sweet and fermented juice yields a spirit by 
distillation ; and I have seen the young leaves of this plant 
eaten. The fibres of the full-grown leaves furnish cords 
of extraordinary strengths Leaving the mountains of the 
Higuerote and Los Teques, we entered a highly cultivated 
country, covered with hamlets and villages ; several of which 
would in Europe be called towns. From east to west, on 
a line of twelve leagues in extent, we passed La Victoria, San 
Mateo, Turmero, and Maraeay, containing together more 
than 28,000 inhabitants. The plains of the Tuy may be con- 
sidered as the eastern extremity of the valleys of Aragua, 
extending from Guigne, on the borders of the lake of 
Valencia, as far as the foot of Las Coeuyzas. A barometri- 
cal measurement gave me 295 toises for the absolute height 
of the Valle del Tuy, near the farm of Mantcrola, and 222 
toises for that of tlie surface of the lake. The Kio Tuy, 
flowing from the mountains of Las Coeuyzas, runs first 
towards the west, then turning to the south and to the east, 
* Yucca acaulis, Humb. 
t At the clock of the cathedral of Caracas, a cord of maguey, half an 
inch in diameter, sustained for fifteen years a weight of 350 pounds. 
