The American tropics; . f all was a luxuriant vine,[105] The American Tropics the norantea or combretum, wMch climbswith its large blossoms of red and gold cover-ing huge trees of the forest with a mantle ofbloom, gorgeous beyond description. At Victoria we remained an hour and ahalf for luncheon. It proved to be a veri-table tourist picnic, seated at long tables un-der the shade of mahogany, banyan andfire-flower trees, with other varieties lessfamiliar. The natives were not permitted toenter the station enclosure, so they crowdedagainst the fence and seemed to enjoy thespectacle as much as w
The American tropics; . f all was a luxuriant vine,[105] The American Tropics the norantea or combretum, wMch climbswith its large blossoms of red and gold cover-ing huge trees of the forest with a mantle ofbloom, gorgeous beyond description. At Victoria we remained an hour and ahalf for luncheon. It proved to be a veri-table tourist picnic, seated at long tables un-der the shade of mahogany, banyan andfire-flower trees, with other varieties lessfamiliar. The natives were not permitted toenter the station enclosure, so they crowdedagainst the fence and seemed to enjoy thespectacle as much as we did. They weremostly negroes and doubtless were of theidle element, such as may be seen at anyAmerican railway station. Aside from the luxuriant foliage the placegloried in a street car line, very like otherswe had seen in Venezuela. From thispoint we again traversed extensive mahoganyforests, passed cattle ranches and cozy sta-tions covered with gorgeous mantles of bou-gainvilla, a purplish-pink flowering shrub [106]. A Midwinter Cruise that runs riot over buildings and fences, pre-senting a solid mass of bloom. The nexttown of importance is Cagua, of 5,000 in-habitants, whose principal industry is theraising of poultry and pigs. During the lastthree hours of the trip it was hot and dusty,and about three oclock the beautiful watersof Lake Valentia appeared to our left. Thelake is 1,362 feet above the sea level andcovers an area of 273 square miles. Afterskirting its shores for a few miles, the cityof Valentia (next to Caracas in size, havingabout 36,000 inhabitants) is reached. It hasmore of a metropolitan air than the townswe had passed and seemed to be enjoyingmore prosperity than is normal in was a large delegation at the station tosee us; evidently a train load of Americantourists was not an everyday again there was a marked contrast be-tween those of high and low degree, those offair skins and those of the dark or mixedtypes. One of the f
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