AOREEA I1I.E TEMiUJKATUJil;. 
483 
it takes its course along the liigh savannahs oi Ocuuiare. 
receives the waters of the valley of Caracas, and reaches 
the sea near cape Coclera. It is- the small portion of its 
basin in the westward direction which, geologically speak- 
(“S’ would seem to belong to the '-alley of Aragua, if the 
lulls of calcareous tufa, breaking the continuity of these 
valleys between Consejo and La Victoria, did not deserve 
some consideration. We shall here again remind the reader 
that the group of the mountains of Los Toques, eight 
hundred and fifty toises high, separates two longitudinal 
vaUeys, formed m gneiss, granite, and mica-slate. The most 
eastern of these valleys, containing the capital of Caracas 
is 200 toises higher than the western valley, which may be 
considered as the centre of agricultural industry. 
Having been fora longtime accustomed to a moderate 
temperature, we found the plains of the Tuy extremely hot 
although the thermometer kept, in the day-time, between’ 
9 oo VeD “ themormng and five in the afternoon, at only 
-3 or 24. The nights were delightfully cool, the tempera- 
ture falling as low as 17‘5°. As the heat gradually abated 
the air became more and more fragrant with the odour of 
flowers. VV e remarked above all the delicious perfume of 
the Lino hermoso* a new species of pancratium, of which 
the flower, eight or nine inches long, adorns the banks of 
the Rio buy. We spent two very agreeable days at the 
plantation ot Don Jose de Manterola, who in his youth had 
accompanied the Spanish embassy to Russia. The farm is 
a fine plantation of sugar-canes; and the ground is as smooth 
as the bottom of a drained lake. The Rio Tuy winds 
through districts covered with plantains, and a little wood 
of Hura crepitans, Erythrina corallodendron, and fig-trees 
with nympluea leaves. The bed of the river is formed of 
pebbles oi . quartz. I never met with more agreeable bath- 
ing than in the Tuy. The water, as clear as crystal, 
preserves even during the day a temperature of 18-6°; a 
considerable coolness for these climates, and for a height’ of 
three hundred toises ; but the sources of the river are in 
the surrounding mountains. The bouse of the proprietor, 
situated on a hillock, of fifteen or twenty toises of elevation, 
is surrounded by the huts of the negroes. Those who are 
* Pancratium undulntum. 
