stony crust of the Globe, and scatter desolation in a country favoured by the most precious gifts of nature. An uninterrupted calm prevails in the superior atmosphere; but, to use an expression of Franklin's more ingenious than true, the thunder often rolls in the subterranean atmosphere, amid that mixture of elastic fluids, the impetuous movements of which are frequently felt at the surface of the Earth. In describing the destruction of so many populous cities, we have given a picture of the greatest calamities that afflict mankind. A nation, fighting for independance, is suddenly exposed to the want of subsistence, and of all the necessaries of life. Famished, without shelter, the inhabitants are dispersed through the country. Great numbers of those, who have escaped from the ruin of their dwellings, are swept away by disease. Far from strengthening mutual confidence among the citizens, the feeling of misfortune destroys it; physical calamities augment civil discord; nor does the aspect of a country bathed with tears and blood appease the fury of the victorious party.

After the recital of so many calamities, it is soothing to repose the imagination on consolatory remembrances. When the great catastrophe of Caraccas was known in the United States, the Congress, assembled at Washington, unanimously decreed, that five ships laden with flour

should be sent to the coast of Venezuela, to be distributed among the poorest inhabitants. So generous a supply was received with the warmest gratitude; and this solemn act of a free people, this mark of a national interest, of which the increasing civilization of our old Europe displays but few recent examples, seemed to be a valuable pledge of the mutual benevolence, that ought for ever to unite the nations of both Americas.

CHAPTER XV.

Departure from Caraccas.-Mountains of San Pedro and of Los Teques.-La Victoria.Valleys of Aragua.

To take the shortest road from Caraccas to the banks of the Oroonoko, we should have crossed the southern chain of mountains between Baruta, Salamanca, and the savannahs of Ocumare; traversed the steppes or Llanos of Orituca; and embarked at Cabruta, near the mouth of the Rio Guarico *. But this direct road would have deprived us of the opportunity of surveying the finest and most cultivated part of the province, the valleys of Aragua; of taking the level of an important part of the chain of the coast by means of the barometer; and of descending the Rio Apure as far as it's junction with the Oroonoko. A traveller, who has the intention of studying the configuration and

* See chap. xii, vol. iii, p. 446; and the sketch of the valley of Caraccas, and the map of the lower Oroonoko in the Atlas Geographique.

natural riches of a country, is not guided by distances, but by the interest which the regions he may traverse excites in his mind. This powerful motive led us to the mountains of Los Teques, to the thermal springs of Mariara, to the fertile banks of the lake of Valencia, and through the immense savannahs of Calabozo to San Fernando de Apure, in the eastern part of the province of Varinas. Following this road, our first direction was to the West, then to the South, and finally to the East-South-East, to enter the Oroonoko by the Apure in the latitude of 7° 36′ 23′′.

In a journey of six or seven hundred leagues, the longitude being determined by the timekeeper from the points of Caraccas and Cumana, it became indispensable to fix with precision, and by particular observations, the situation of these two places. I have given above in the tenth chapter the result of the astronomical observations made at the first point of departure, Cumana; the second point, the northermost part of Caraccas, is situate in 10° 30′ 50′′ of latitude, and 69° 25′ of longitude. I found

* See vol. iii, p. 313.

+ Mr. Ferrer, who made his observations at the Custom house, found for the latitude 10° 30′ 24′′; and by the timekeeper, setting out from Porto-Rico (and admitting this place to be in 68° 28′ 3′′), for the longitude 69° 23′. Ob

the magnetic variation, on the 22d of January, 1800, out of the town, near the gate of La Pastora, 4° 38′ 45′′ North-East; and on the 30th of January, within the town, at the University, 4° 39′ 15′′; consequently 26′ more than at Cumana. The dip of the needle was 42.9°, cent. division. The number of oscillations, measuring the intensity of the magnetic action, during 10′ of time at Caraccas, was 232; at Cumana, 229. We could not make very numerous observations: they are the result of an investigation of three months.

The day that we quitted the capital of Venezuela, subsequently swallowed up by terrible earthquakes, we reached the foot of the woody mountains, that close the valley toward the South-West, where we slept. We followed the right bank of the Rio Guayra as far as the village of Antimano, by a very fine road, partly scooped out of the rock; and passed by La Vega, and Carapa. The church of La Vega

servations merely celestial give me for the Square of La Trinidad,

By lunar distances from the Sun and the stars,
By occultations of satellites

4h 37′ 27′′

4h 37' 53"

See Recueil d' Obs. Ast., vol. i, p. 158-184. We exclude a chronometrical determination, because of the tossing of the boat, near Cape Codera, in a rough sea.