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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Near Guayavita, Brown Iron-Ore Has
Been Discovered.
To the north of Turmero, a granitic summit (the
Chuao) rises in the Cordillera of the coast, from the top of which
we discern at once the sea and the lake of Valencia.
Crossing this
rocky ridge, which runs towards the west farther than the eye can
reach, paths somewhat difficult lead to the rich plantations of
cacao on the coast, to Choroni, Turiamo, and Ocumare, noted alike
for the fertility of the soil and the insalubrity of their climate.
Turmero, Maracay, Cura, Guacara, every point of the valley of
Aragua, has its mountain-road, which terminates at one of the small
ports on the coast.
On quitting the village of Turmero, we discover, at a league
distant, an object, which appears at the horizon like a round
hillock, or tumulus, covered with vegetation. It is neither a hill,
nor a group of trees close to each other, but one single tree, the
famous zamang del Guayre, known throughout the province for the
enormous extent of its branches, which form a hemispheric head five
hundred and seventy-six feet in circumference. The zamang is a fine
species of mimosa, and its tortuous branches are divided by
bifurcation. Its delicate and tender foliage was agreeably relieved
on the azure of the sky. We stopped a long time under this
vegetable roof. The trunk of the zamang del Guayre,* (* The mimos
of La Guayre; zamang being the Indian name for the genera mimosa,
desmanthus, and acacia.
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