The villages in which the Europeans or Creoles are settled, and in which Indians are occasionally found occupying a distinct part, are called _doctrinas_, and differ entirely from the missions. Of these there are many on the side of the country nearest the coast, the missions being mostly in the interior. Near Cumanacoa, is the great mountain called Tumiriquiri, where an enormous wall of rock rises out of the forest, and is joined on the west by the Cerro de Cuchivano, where the chain is broken by an enormous precipice more than 900 feet in width, filled with trees, whose branches are completely interlaced with each other. The Rio Juagua traverses this crevice, which is the abode of the jaguar, or American tiger, of a very formidable size, being six feet in length. They carry off the horses and cattle in the night from the neighbouring farms, and are as much dreaded as the most ferocious of the feline race are in the East Indies. Two immense caverns open into this precipice, from which flames occasionally rush out that may be seen in the night at a great distance. The great mountain of _Tumiriquiri_ is situated on the road to Caripe, the chief mission of the Chaymas, which passes over the summit of a lower part of the chain, which bears the general name of the _Cocollar_. From the summit of this last chain, at more than two thousand feet in height, the eye wanders over the immense plains which reach towards the banks of the Orinoco, in the ravines alone of which can be distinguished any trees, and these but thinly scattered; the remainder of the surface is covered with an uniform coat of long waving grass, intermixed with flowering shrubs. From this point the traveller ascends towards the Tumiriquiri; the road is partly traversed on horseback, but soon becomes too steep and slippery for these animals.