The road runs along the smiling banks of the Tuy; the
morning was cool and humid, and the air seemed embalmed by the
delicious odour of the Pancratium undulatum, and other large
liliaceous plants. In our way to La Victoria, we passed the pretty
village of Mamon or of Consejo, celebrated in the country for a
miraculous image of the Virgin. A little before we reached Mamon,
we stopped at a farm belonging to the family of Monteras. A negress
more than a hundred years old was seated before a small hut built
of earth and reeds. Her age was known because she was a creole
slave. She seemed still to enjoy very good health. "I keep her in
the sun" (la tengo al sol), said her grandson; "the heat keeps her
alive." This appeared to us not a very agreeable mode of prolonging
life, for the sun was darting his rays almost perpendicularly. The
brown-skinned nations, blacks well seasoned, and Indians,
frequently attain a very advanced age in the torrid zone. A native
of Peru named Hilario 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
civilization 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 uncultivated. No advantage has been
derived from the ravines which water the neighbouring mountains;
but fine cultivation 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.
