Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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We Promised To Describe His Features
Exactly To His Father, But The Sight Of Our Books And Instruments
Somewhat Chilled The Mother's Confidence.
She said "that in a long
journey, amidst so many cares of another kind, we might well forget
the colour of her child's eyes."
On the road from Maracay to the Hacienda de Cura we enjoyed from
time to time the view of the lake of Valencia. An arm of the
granitic chain of the coast stretches southward into the plain. It
is the promontory of Portachuelo which would almost close the
valley, were it not separated by a narrow defile from the rock of
La Cabrera. This place has acquired a sad celebrity in the late
revolutionary wars of Caracas; each party having obstinately
disputed its possession, as opening the way to Valencia, and to the
Llanos. La Cabrera now forms a peninsula: not sixty years ago it
was a rocky island in the lake, the waters of which gradually
diminish. We spent seven very agreeable days at the Hacienda da
Cura, in a small habitation surrounded by thickets.
We lived after the manner of the rich in this country; we bathed
twice, slept three times, and made three meals in the twenty-four
hours. The temperature of the water of the lake is rather warm,
being from twenty-four to twenty-five degrees; but there is another
cool and delicious bathing-place at Toma, under the shade of ceibas
and large zamangs, in a torrent gushing from the granitic mountains
of the Rincon del Diablo.
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