The beautiful Guanaguana valley stretches towards the east, opening into the Punzera and Terecen plains. We would have liked to visit those plains to explore the petroleum springs that lie between the Guarapiche and Areo rivers, but the rainy season had started, and every day we had problems trying to dry and preserve our plant collections Near Punzera we saw little bags woven in silk hanging from the lower branches of the savannah trees. It is the seda silvestre, or wild silk of the country, which has a lovely sheen but is rough to the touch. The moth that weaves these cocoons is perhaps the same as the one in the Guanajuato and Antioquia provinces that also makes a wild silk. In the beautiful Punzera forests grow two trees that are called curucay and canela; the first because it yields a resin much sought after by the piaches, or Indian sorcerers; the second because its leaves smell like proper cinnamon from Ceylon.

It is well established in the missions that there is no cure for curare that is fresh and concentrated and that has remained long enough in the wound for it to enter the bloodstream. Indians who have been wounded in wars by arrows dipped in curare described to us symptoms that resembled those of snake bites. The individual feels a congestion in his head, and giddiness makes him sit down. He feels nausea, vomits several times, and is tortured by thirst as the area around his wound becomes numb.

We left finally on the 22nd of September, with four mules carrying our instruments and plants. Leaving the Caripe valley we first crossed a chain of hills running north-east from the convent. The road was uphill across a wide savannah towards the tableland of Guardia de San Agustín. We waited there for the Indian who carried our barometer. We stood at 533 toises above sea-level. The savannahs, or natural grasslands, excellent pasture for the monastery cows, were totally devoid of trees and shrubs. It is the kingdom of the monocotyledonous plants, with only a few maguey (Agave americana), whose flowers rise some 26 feet above the grass. On the high tableland of Guardia we felt we had been carried to an ancient lake flattened by the prolonged effect of the waters. You think you can recognize the curves of the ancient shore, the prominent tongues of land, the steep cliffs forming islands. Even the distribution of flora seems to refer to that primitive state. The bottom of the basin is a savannah, while its edges are covered with tall trees. It is sad that a place so favored by its climate, and fit for wheat, should be totally uninhabited.