494 
ItOAI) TO LA V.CCTOKIA. 
Tliis appeared to us not a very agreeable mode of prolong' 
ing life, for the sun was darting his rays almost perpendi- 
cularly. The brown-shinned nations, blacks well seasoned, 
and Indians, frequently attain a very advanced age in the 
torrid zone. A native of Peru named Ililario Pari died at 
the extraordinary age of one hundred and forty-three years, 
after having been ninety years married. 
Don Francisco Montera and his brother, a well-informed 
young priest, accompanied us with the view of conducting 
us to their house at La Victoria. Almost all the families 
with whom we had lived in friendship at Caracas were 
assembled in the fine valleys of Aragua, and they vied 
with each other in their efforts to render our stay agreeable. 
Before we plunged into the forests of the Orinoco, we 
enjoyed once more all the advantages which advanced civili- 
zation affords. 
The road from Mamon to La Victoria runs south and 
south-west. We soon lost sight of the river Tuy, which, 
turning eastward, forms an elbow at the foot of the high 
mountains of Guayraima. As we drew nearer to Victoria 
the ground became smoother ; it seemed like the bottom of 
a lake, the waters of which had been drained off. We might 
have fancied ourselves in the valley of Hasli, in the canton 
of Berne. The neighbouring hills, only one hundred and 
forty toises in height, are composed of calcareous tufa ; but 
their abrupt declivities project like promontories on the 
plain. Their form indicates the ancient shore of the lake. 
The eastern extremity of this valley is parched and un- 
cultivated. No advantage has been derived from the ravines 
which water the neighbouring mountains ; btit fine culti- 
vation is commencing in the proximity of the town. I say 
of the town, though in my time Victoria was considered 
only as a village (pueblo). 
The environs of La Victoria present a very remarkable 
agricultural aspect. The height of the cultivated ground is 
from two hundred and seventy to three hundred toises 
above the level of the ocean, and yet we there find fields 
of corn mingled with plantations of sugar-cane, coffee, 
and plantains. Excepting the interior of the island of 
Cuba,* we scarcely find elsewhere in the equinoctial regions 
* The district of Quatro Villas. 
