488 
QU£JQh,Vi)A S£OA. 
not, by the mere view of the soil, without digging a largo 
trench in the direction of the vein, judge of the existence of 
the mine; I was compelled to yield to the desire of my 
hosts. For twenty years past the overseer’s waistcoat had 
been the subject of conversation in the country. Gold 
extracted from the bosom of the earth is far more alluring 
in the eyes of the vulgar, than that which is the produce of 
agricultural industry, favoured by tho fertility of the soil, 
and the mildness of the climate. 
North-west of the Hacienda del Tuy, in the northern 
range of the chain of the coast, we find a deep ravine, 
called the Quebrada Seca, because the torrent, by which it 
was formed, loses its waters through the crevices of the 
rock, before it reaches the extremity of tho ravine. The 
whole of this mountainous country is covered with thick 
vegetation. "We there found the same verdure as had 
charmed us by its freshness in the mountains of Buenavista 
and Las Lagunetas, wherever the ground rises as high as 
the region of the clouds, and where the vapours of the sea 
nave free access. In the plains, on the contrary, many 
trees arc stripped of a part of their leaves during the 
winter ; and when we descend into the valley of the Tuy, 
we are struck with the almost hibernal aspect of the 
country. Tho dryness of the air is such that the hygro- 
meter of Delue keeps day and night between 36° and 40°. 
At a distance from the river scarcely any huras or piper- 
trees extend their foliage over thickets destitute of verdure. 
This seems owing to the dryness of the r.ir, which attains its 
maximum in the month of February; and not, as the 
European planters assert, “ to the seasons of Spain, of which 
the empire extends as far as the torrid zone.” It is only 
plants transported from one hemisphere to the other, which, 
in their organic functions, in the development of their leaves 
and flowers, still retain their affinity to a distant climate: 
faithful to their habits, they follow for a long time the 
periodical changes of their native hemisphere. In the 
province of Venezuela the trees stripped of their foliage 
begin to renew their leaves nearly a month before the rainy 
season. It is probable, that at this period the electrical 
equilibrium of the air is already disturbed, and the atmo- 
sphere, although not vet clouded, becomes gradually more 
