Caraccas

For about a century after the acquisition of Terra Firma by the Europeans, no attempt. was made to' raise any sort of produce from the soil. Gold and silver were the great objects of research, and the pursuit after these superseded every other species of industry. The adventurers, however, who settled in the country, not finding a sufficient quantity of the precious metals to gratify their rapacity, turned their thoughts towards the pearl fisheries. Being speedily disappointed in their expectations of wealth From this source, they had .recourse to agriculture, and, on trial, they found the soil of the Caracoas ex. tremely fertile, and capable of producing ample re turns. They began with cultivating cacao, planta tions of which were multiplied throughout the country, and the labours of the planter were so ad mirably seconded by a favourable soil, that the pro duce was both abundant and of an excellent quality, Cacao was almost exclusively cultivated till a very late period. About the year 1774, the culture of indigo was begun, and it was speedily aicertaia ed, that the soil was equally well adapted to raise this valuable produce. Most of the new plantations were, therefore, prepared for this new species of cul. tare, and immense plains, till then uncultivated, were covered with plantations of indigo. The pro. fits derived from.this trade, and the great concourse of traders and cultivators, occasioned villages to spring up in the desert, and gave to many towns, such as Maracay, Tulmero, and Victoria, which were before in a state of decay, the aspect and consistence of cities. About the same time the cotton plant was introduced. The cultivation of sugar, tobacco, and generally of all the other products of the tropical re gions, was also commenced. In this fine country, how ever, blessed as it is with all the advantages both of soil and of climate, agriculture still languishes. There is a want of enterprise and active industry among thq planters ;—their plantations are committed to the care of ignorant overseers ; and the Spanish proprie tor, who generally resides in town, seldom visits his estates above once in a year. This carelessness fre qUently produces embarrassments ; the land is mort. gaged for the purpose of raising money, and the ca pital which ought to be laid out in improved cultiva tion, is thus forestalled for the purposes of extrava gance. " It is a matter of astonishment?' says De pons, " that in the most beautiful country in nature, where everything concurs to promote luxuriance of vegetation, the plantations should be so =wader able in magnitude. A planter, whose income a _ _ mounts to 4000 or 5000 dollars per annum, is con sidered rich. There cannot be enumerated twenty plantations in the Caraccas which yield a greater re venue. It is not, however, that the property is too much divided. It is rare to see a plantation of which one-tenth part of its extent is cultivated. It-is a cheerless and painful sight to behold the labour of three successive centuries crowned with such pitiful results. On a soil two hundred times less spacious, incomparably less watered, and less fertile, and with not more than one-half the white population, the French have succeeded in raising, at St Domingo, ten times more produce than is raised at this day in the vast province of the Caraccas." Besides the colonial commodities already enume rated, this country produces vanilla, wild cochineal, gums, resins, roots, barks, and plants, many of which are prized for their medicinal virtues. In the moun tains of the interior are found the same kinds of wood as in the Antilles, and many other kinds peculiar to the country. The vast forests by which the coun try is covered, contain abundant supplies of timber for the most extensive All those inex haustible resources are, however, useless, owing to the of transporting the wood over the trackless paths of the mountains. These difficulties might be considerably diminished, if due exertion were Tilde to clear the channels of the rivers from occasional obstructions, so as to facilitate the intercourse with the interior. But there is neither enterprise nor in dustry in the country adequate for such improve ments. Besides large timber for the construction of vessels and other purposes, their forests contain ma terials for the work of the carpenter and cabinet maker, so various, as to embarrass them in their choice. The beams and joists of houses are, in general, made from the wood which the Spa niards call Pardillo, and in some places they use a species of very hard oak. Cedar is used for doors, windows, tables, &c. ; and, for ornamental furni— ture, they have several kinds of wood suscep tible of the highest polish. Among these is dis tinguished the black ebony, found in great abundance in the forests in the neighbourhood of Lake Mara caibo. Yellow and red ebony is also common ; but mahogany is not so abundant as in the West In dia islands, and it is, besides, inferior both in re spect to its shades and gloss. Iron wood, which

abounds in different parts of the country, is used for shafts to the wheels of water-mills ; for the rollers of the cylinders used for pressing sugar-canes ; and, ge nerally, on all occasions for which wood of extraor dinary hardness is required. The red ebony is also applied to the same uses as the iron wood, and is even thought to surpass it in hardness. No wood has yet been found fit for dyeing, except the Brasil wood. But the immense forests which overspread the moun tainous parts of this country have not been explor ed to any extent. They still continue, for the most part, to be the exclusive domain of ferocious ani mals and venomous reptiles, and we cannot be cer tain, until they are more fully known, what hidden resources they may afford for the extension of com merce, or the improvement of art.

On the first discovery

of Terra Firm, the pearl. fishery formed a considerable branch of trade as well as of revenue. The pearla ronde was found to abound in the shoals which extend from Cape Pais to that of Vela ; and the island of Margaretta, Cubaa, Coche, Punta Araya, and the mouth of the Rio la Hacha, were celebrated for the quantity of pearls which they produced. The fifth of the produce was claimed by the king, and it was estimated in the be. ginning of the 16th century to amount to about 15,000 ducats, which, considering that an extensive contraband trade was at the same time carried on, shows the whole amount to have been considerable. Till the year ISM, the annual value of the pearls sent to Europe amounted on an average to 800,000 piastres. Towards the end of the 16th century, the produce of the American pearl-fisheries diminished rapidly, and, according to some accounts, they were altogether abandoned by the year 1683. Various causes were assigned for the decline of this -trade. But the chief cause seems to have been the increas• ing scarcity of the oysters which yielded these pre. cious stones. With such persevering rapacity was this lucrative trade pursued, that the shells were de. etroyed faster than they could be multiplied. It is known that the animal which inhabits the pearl•shell does not live above nine or ten years, and it is only in the fourth year that the pearls begin to show themselves. Of these shells, a boat will collect in about two or three weeks more than 35,000. At Ceylon, the government only permits the pearl-fish. ing to be continued for one month in the comae of a year ; but on the coasts of the Caraccas there was no restriction. The pearl banks were fished at all seasons, and the consequence is, that they have been abandoned for nearly two centuries. At Curium it is supposed, that, during such a long period of re prieve, the pearl-shells must have been greatly in. creased ; and, in 1812, some attempts were made to revive the fishery. But it is generally observed, that the few pearls which are now accidentally found are both extremely small, and devoid of brilliancy, while those found among the Indians on the arrival of the Spaniards on Terra Firma, were particularly distill guished for these two properties. It is difficult to account for this change. Humboldt conjectures tbat the earthquakes to which this country is peculiarly subject, may have altered the bottom of the sea, or that the changes in the submarine currents may have so far influenced the temperature of the water, as to diminish the sustenance necessary for the support of the animal which produces the pearl. The small pearls which are still occasionally found on the coasts entangled in the fishermen's nets, are sold to the retail dealers of Cumana, at the ordinary price of a piastre, or 4s. 2d. per dozen.

Mineral springs abound in these provinces, both warm and cold ; and they are of various qualm!" namely, the simmoniacal, the ferruginous, the ni trous, and the acidulous. Some of these waters have a degree of heat which nearly approaches to that of boiling water. Owing to their situation, however, generally in uninhabited places, far from any frequented path, they are not of the same ad vantage to medicine as if they were differently situ ated,. because the patient cannot enjoy the benefit of those waters, and, at the same time, all those domes tic comforts which are equally necessary to his re covery. He moat sacrifice the one to procure the other ; so that, in many cases, the disadvantage of the change is greater than the benefit.

All that portion of the coast which is north of the province of Venezuela, furnishes a quantity of salt, of a beautiful whiteness. But the most abundant salt-pit is that of A mya, which con sists of a mixture of the fossil and marine salts. Its produce, under the regime of the mother country, was monopolized for the benefit of the Crown, the consequence of which was, that the working of the pits was little attended to, and that they did not better anything like the quantity of salt which, under better management, they were capable of producing.