A PATHLESS EXPANSRE. 14]

New Barcelona, Venezuela, and Spanish Guiana.
Leaving the Caraccas, in January 1800 Humboldt
and his companion visited the charming valleys of
Araqua and the great lake of Valencia, which in
its general appearance resembles that of (seneva,
but has its banks clothed with all the luxuriant
vegetation of a tropical climate. In Cura, one of
its islets, they found cultivated a species of potato,
yielding wholesome and pleasant fruit. From
thence the travellers, directing their course south-
wards, crossed on horseback the vast plains of
Caloboza, Apure, and Oroonoko. They next tra-
versed the famous Llanos, an immense succession
of deserts, stretching nearly 200 miles on a dead
level, absolutely destitute of springs or rivulcts,
and only covered with a tall rank herbage. Over
this desolate and pathless expanse they journeyed
for whole days, without meeting a single shrub or
a solitary cabin to refresh the eye, while they suf-
fered extremely from the intense heat. At St
Fernando, on the river Apure, they began a most
fatiguing navigation of more than 3000 miles, which
they performed in canoes. Sailing down the Apure,
they entered the Oroonoko at the 7th degree of
north latitude, and, remounting that noble stream,
passed overland to the sources of the famous Rio
Negro. About thirty Indians were employed to
carry the canoes through lofty forests to the creek