The natural history of a country, which, since its first discovery, has been occupied by Spaniards, indolent, void of curiosity, and extremely jealous of the visits of foreign ers, is, of course, very imperfectly known. The avidity of its first conquerors was exclusively directed to the dis covery of gold and silver mines. Four gold mines were found, after a long and anxious search, and were wrought under the name of the royal mine of St Philippe de Bu da. They were abandoned, however, in the year 1554, in consequence of a revolt of the negroes who wrought in them, and of the natives, who now foresaw, in the es tablishments of the Spaniards, their certain subjection to tyrannical masters. To renew these works, became the favourite enterprize of several successive governors. With this view, Governor Villacinda built a city which he called Pahnes, the first year after the revolt ; but it was scarcely finished, before it was destroyed by the In dians. A similar attempt was made, six months after, by Paradas, which was equally unsuccessful ; he built the city of Nirgua, which lie was soon compelled to eva cuate. Gutierres de la Pegna built another city, with the same design, on the banks of the Nirgua, in 1557 ; for some years it withstood the attacks of the Indians, who at length, however, in 1568, succeeded in reducing it. Another mine was discovered in the environs of the city of St Sebastian de los Reyes; but, when Governor Collado began to attend to the erection of its works, an in surrection of the Indians caused it to be abandoned. A de ceitful peace., which was concluded with the Cacique Guaycaypuro, seemed to afford a favourable opportunity for the renewal of these works ; but they had not.proeeeded far, when a multitude of Indians, falling upon them un expectedly, massacred all the workmen, and demolished the works ; nor has any future attempt been made for their establishment. At Apa and Carapa, not far from the banks of the Tuy, Sebastian Dias discovered, in 1584, two mines, where the gold was very abundant, and at twenty-three carats. The country was so extremely un he-Ithy, however, that it became indispensably necessa ry to abandon treasures, which could not be procured without a much larger sacrifice of men than the colony could then afford. Tile reputed i ichness of these mines again tempted the avidity of Sancho Alquisa, in 1606; but the works had been so completely destroyed by the Indians, that, after the most anxious s arch, not a vestige of tnem could be traced. ln 1698, Governor D. Fran cisco Berrocaran made similar efforts, and wit., similar success. Yet the Sp ofiards of Caraccas, thus ldo' tu mte in their attempts to work the gold and silver mines, possess, in tile jurisdiction of St Philippe, mines of cop per of a very superior quality, which, Insides supplying the planters with the best materials for their boilers, cylin ders of mills, and other implements, had fumished 171 qu; .tats for exportation in 1801.; and the quantity would have been much more considerable, but fur the war.
Il,td the Spaniards been attentive or scientific ob servers, their search alter mines have made them acquainted with many important facts relatite; to the strata and mineralogy of the Caraccas. But sin In facts, however they might gratify the curiosity of geolo gists, could excite no interest in men is hose curiosity sprung entirely from avarice, and who never thought of penetrating beneath the surface of the earth, except for the discovery of the precious metals. We I.nt w scarcely any thing, therefore, of the mineralogy of this district of Terra Firma, until it was lately explored by Baron Ilumbohlt. According to his obsert ations, it is composed of nearly the same strata as the ancient conti nent. On the Saddle Mountain of Caraccas, 360 wises above the level of the sea, lie found folicular granite. Ile found it also at Cape Codera, at the height of 141 toises ; and of this granite, he assures us, the whole coast is composed, from the Unara river to Santa Martha. The mountain of Capaya lie found to be composed of a granite which changes into slated talc, vit•iolated feld spar, slated chlorite, limestone grained with mica, rock crystal, primitive green rock, silvered galena, quart7, magnetic sand, red oxide of crystallized titan, quartz mixed with black lead. Porcelain earth, argillaceous
earth, &e. arc found scattered in the provinces in thc same manner, and in the same proportions, as in Europe. Argillaccous earth is found in the greatest quantity. The whole coast north of the province of Venezuela fur nishes salt of a beautiful whiteness ; and that in the salt pit of Araya, in particular, may vie with any in America, not even excepting Turk's Island. This salt pit con sists of a mixture of fossil and marine salt. But the Spaniards, with their characteristic indolence, almost en tirely neglect the working of it ; so that they do not de rive from it the one-hundredth part of what it might produce. The provinces of Caraccas abound likewise in mineral waters, both hot and cold. They are of va rious qualities, suzli as the ammoniacal, the ferruginous, the nitrous, and even the acidulous. The heat of some of these waters approaches to that of boiling water. Be tween Porto Bello and Valencia there are springs which rise to the seventy-second degree, and there is another still hotter in the wallies of Aragua.
On the first discovery of this country, the Spaniards, disappointed in their expectation of wealth from its mines, engaged eagerly in the pearl fishery, which, for some time, was the most considerable source of their riches, and the most important branch of the royal revenues. This fishery was carried on between the islands of Cu bagua and 'slargaretta, at the expence of a great many lives, both of Spaniards and Indians. Several other un toward circumstances caused them at length to abandon their fishery, which has never been resumed. It is even pretended, that the pearls have disappeared from the eastern coast ; and the first place on the leeward, where that fishery is carried on with some success, is a bay situ ated between Cape Chichibacoa and Cape de la Vela. occupied by the Guihiros Indians, who sell their pearls to the Dutch and English.
The luxuriant soil of the Caraccas yields an exhaust less store of the most valuable vegetable productions. Its mountains are clothed with forests, consisting of all the kinds of wood to be found in the Antilles, besides a great many species peculiar to themselves. The most extensive s: ip-yards might be supplied for ages from these ihountains with timber of the finest Quality ; and clr,,enters and cabinet-makers find such variety of ma terials for their different purposes, that their principal difficulty is to make a selection. The wood called by the Spaniards Pardillo, is generally used for beams, door frames, and posts. In some places, instead of the pardillo, they substitute a species of very hard oak, which is the guercus cents of Linnaeus, and the guercus gallifer of Tournefort. Cedar is much employed by cabinet makers for doors, windows, tables, and common chairs. For ornamental furniture, they have several kinds of wood susceptible of the highest polish. Of these, the most distinguished is the black ebony, which abounds in several places, but particularly on the banks of the Totondoy,—a spot apparently intended by Nature as the nursery of those trees which contribute most to the ne cessities or to the pleasure of man. Yellow and red ebo ny are both very common in the forests of Terra Firma ; but mahogany is neither so abundant here, nor so fine, as in that part of St Domingo which Spain has ceded to France ; yet, in richness, and variety of colouring, no ma hogeny can vie with the chacarandy, a native of Caraccas, which, wren properly polished, possesses a degree of beauty which no species of timber, perhaps, can exceed. For works which require timber of extraordinary hard ness, they employ iron-wood, the ybera puterana of Marcgrave ; or red ebony, which is even harder than iron-wood. The only wood for dyeing which has yet been found in Caraccas is the Brazil wood ; but, in truth, the forests of this favoured country have been so little explored, that their treasures are very im perfectly known.