The llanos have different names in different parts : thins, from the Mouth of the Dragon, the Ilanos of Ctunaua, of Barcelona, and of Caracas or Venezuela, follow from east to west, when, turning south ward from 8' N. lat., between the meridians of 67° 40' and 70 90', we find the Ilanos of Varinaa, Casuare, the Meta, Guaviare, Cavan, and Caqueta. All these are again subdivided.
The aspect of the Dance is somewhat dissimilar in different places ; but the greatest difference depends upon the seasons. The local dissimilarity arises chiefly from the nature of the palm-trees scattered about, which vary in different places, and also from the greater or less abundance and variety of the dicotyledonous plants which are inter mixed with thegrasses, the height of which latter is also very unequal, being sometimes only a few inches at a distance from the watercourses, and rising to a height of four feet in their vicinity. In this high grass the jaguar, or Americium tiger, lurks to spring upon the mules and horses that cross the plain. But the of drought or of rain entirely change the aspect of the greater part of the llanos. In the rainy season, says Humboldt, the Hanes display a beautiful verdure, but in the time of great drought they assume the aspect of a desert. The grass is then reduced to powder, the earth cracks, the alligators and great serpents remain buried in the dried mud, till awakened from their long lethargy by the first showers of spring. These phenomena are observed on barren tracts of fifty or sixty leagues in length where the Hanes are not traversed by rivers.
The principal and almost tho only trees of the hlanos are different varieties of palms. The Corypha tectorunL, or Palma de Cobija, solitary or in clumps rises here and there as a landmark through these track less plains. It is chiefly found in the llanos of Caracas from Mesa de Peja, as far as Guayaval. Farther north and north-west, near Guavare and San Carlos, its place is taken by another species of the same genus. Other palm-trees appear to the south of Guayaval, especially the Pirirs, with pinnate leaves, and the Marichi, whose beautiful verdure, at the period of the greatest drought, contrasts with the mournful aspect of the grey and dusty leaves of the eobija. Two or
three other species of trees besides palms are also found in the Banos, and it is round these clumps that the Banos are the most fertile.
The great wealth of the names consists in the numerous herds which they feed. The first horned cattle were let loose in these exten tive pastures by Christoval Rodriguez, about the year 1548, since which time they have increased to almost countless numbers. About 98,000 head of cattle are said to wander in the pastures round Calaboza. But, according to M. Depons, there are, from the mouths of the Orinoco to the lake of Diaracaybo, 1,200,000 oxen, 180,000 horses, and 90,000 mules, the annual produce of which herds is estimated at about 5,000,000 francs. But these estimates were made many years since, and are scarcely applicable to the present time.
All the parts of the llanos are not equally favourable for the breed ing of mules and oxen; but in some of those places, where the herds are less numerous, the pastures are so fertile as to furnish meat of an excellent quality for provisioning the coast.
The horses of the llama are not very large, but are descended from a fine Spanish breed. Deer are natives of these plains.
The greatest curiosity of the Banos are the gyinnoti, or electrical eels, which live in the pools as well as in the rivers of this part of South America.
We may also mention, as distinguishing the 'lanes from the pampas, and from the plains of North America, the Sahara, and ' the steppes of Asia, the total absence of any formation of chloride of sodium or common salt.
Pampas, from an Indian word, which, in the Quichua language, signifies properly a flat, is the name given to extensive plains in the southern and central parts of South America. Those which lie to the south and north-west of Buenos Ayres are called, the former the Pampas of Buenos Ayres, or simply the Pampas, and the Latter the Pampas of Cordova. The plains to the south of the province of Chiquitos bear the name of the Pampas de Huanacos. '1 here is also one more to the north, between the river Beni and the river .3Iarmore, a tributary of the Madeira ; and lastly, to the north between Huallaga and the Ucayal there is another, called the Pampas del Sacramento.