GREAT Z AMAH G TREE. 
500 
of the country, and their appearance alone suffisiently indi- 
cated that these valleys had enjoyed for ages undisturbed 
peace. The capitan-general, in order to give a new impulse 
to the military service, had ordered a grand review ; and the 
battalion of Turmero, in a mock fight, had fired on that ot 
La Victoria. Our host, a lieutenant oi the militia, was 
never weary of describing to us the danger oi these 
manoeuvres, which seemed more burlesque than imposing. 
With what rapidity do nations, apparently the most pacific, 
acquire military habits ! Twelve years afterwards, those 
valleys of Aragua, those peaceful plains of La V letoria and 
Turmero, the defile of Cabrera, and the fertile banks of the 
lake of Valencia, became the scenes of obstinate and san- 
guinary conflicts between the natives and the troops of the 
mother-country. „ , . , 
South of Turmero, a mass of limestone mountains, ad- 
vances into the plain, separating two fine sugar-plantations, 
Guayavita and Paja. The latter belongs to the family of 
Count Tovar, who have property in every part of the pro- 
vince. Near Guayavita, brown iron-ore has been discovered 
To the north of Turmero, a granitic summit (the Chuao) 
rises in the Cordillera of the coast, from the top of which 
we discern at once the sea and the lake of Valencia. Cross- 
ing this rocky ridge, which runs towards the west farther 
than the eye can reach, paths somewhat difficult lead to 
the rich plantations of cacao on the coast, to Choroni, iu- 
riamo, and Ocumare, noted alike for the fertility of the soil 
and the insalubrity of their climate. Turmero, Maracay, 
Cura, Guacara, every point of the valley of Aragua has its 
mountain-road, which terminates at one ot the small ports 
on the coast. „ m ,. , „ 
On quitting the village of Turmero, we discover, at a 
league distant, an object, which appears at the horizon like 
a round hillock, or tumulus, covered with vegetation. It is 
neither a hill, nor a group of trees close to each other, but 
one single tree, the famous zamang del Guayre, known 
throughout the province for the enormous extent of i s 
branches, which form a hemispheric head five hundred and 
seventy-six feet in circumference. The zamang is a hue 
species of mimosa, and its tortuous branches are divided by 
