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Show ANNOTATIO AND ADDITIONS. 45 ca is a countq of mountain . The cou t chain is divided, like the wi Alp , into everal ubordinate chains enclosing longitudinal valley . The mo t celebrated of the e is the pleasant valley of Aragua, which produces a great quantity of indigo, sugar, cotton, and, what is mo t remarkable, European wheat. The southern margin of this valley adjoins the beautiful Lake of Valencia, whose old Indian name is Tacarigua. The contrast between its opposite shores give it a triking resemblance to the Lake of Geneva. It is true that the bare mountains of Guigue and Guiripa have less grandeur of character than the Savoy Alp i but, on the other hand, the opposite bank of the Tacarigua lake, which is thickly clothed with plantains, mimosa , and triplaris, far surpasses in picturesque beauty the vineyards of the Pays de V au d. The lake is about thirty geographical miles in length, and is full of small islands, which, as the loss of water by evaporatios exceeds the influx, are increasing in ize. Within some years, sand banks have even become real islands, and have received the significant name of the "Newly Appeared," Las Aparecida . On the island of Oura, the remarkable species of Solanum is cultivated which has edible fruit, and which Wildenow has described in the Hortus Berolinensis (1816, Tab. xxvii.). The height of the Lake of Tacarigua above the sea is almo t 1400 French feet (according to my measurement., exactly 230 toises, or 14 70 English feet) less than the mean height of the valley of Oaraccas. The lake has several kinds of fish (see my Observations de Zoologic et d' Anatomic comparee, T. ii. pp. 179-181), and is one of the most pleasing natural scenes which I know in any part of the globe. In bathing, Bonpland and myself were often alarmed by the appearance of the Bava, an undescribed crocodilelike lizard, three or four feet in length, of a repulsive aspect, but harmless to men. We found in the lake a Typha (Oats-tail), identical with the European Typha angustifolia i a singular fact, and important in reference to the geography of plants. Two varieties of sugar-cane are cultivated near the lake, in the valleys of Aragua: the common sugar-cane of the West Indies, Ca:iia criolla: and the cane recently introduced from the Pacific, Cafia de Otaheiti. The verdure of the Tahitian cane is of a .much lighter and more agreeable tint, and a field of it can readily be dis- |