Not far from here is the fine lake of Tacarigua or {xlvii} Valencia, which by its gradual but marked evaporation, is constantly adding to the already extensive area of fertile land nowhere to be found like it in the wide world, and which doubtless extorted, even from an Englishman, the following confession: “It is a great pity Venezuela is so much out of the high roads of travel, and that the inconveniences, for Europeans, of getting at it, are so great.
— from Travels and adventures in South and Central America. First series Life in the Llanos of Venezuela by Ramón Páez