After this detailed account of the climate, the natural history, and physical aspect of this country, it becomes an interesting inquiry, what improvement do the inhabi tants make or the advantages which nature has so liber ally afforded ? Few parts of Spanish America are under better cultivation than Caraccas, became when its mines disappointed the expectations of its conquerors, they were compelled to depend on the productions of the soil for the riches which its bowels denied. The luxuriant %egetation of its Vallics might well inspire the most san guine hopes; and, in the hands of a people trained to habits of regular industry, would soon have become a source of ampler and mot% substantial wealth than could ever be derived from the mines of Mexico and Peru.
But the Spaniards, intent us they were on were too indolent, or too unskilful to reap the full hr milt of their situation; and though agriculture (10111'14111•S snot, in Canteens than in any other of the Spanish pros inces, it is at this day so imperfect as scarct ly to raise the one thousandth part of the production w hick this fooured country might be easily made to yield.
Cacao, an indigenous production of this part of Am,. rica, naturally attracted their first attention. It was soon adopted as one of their most favourite aliments; and in the mother country the relish for chocolate became so strong, that it was regarded as even more indispensable than bread. Plantations or cacao were accordingly mul tiplied in Caraccas, and the congenial soil, answering the fondest wishes of the planters, yielded crops of this valuable fruit no less excellent than To thc merchant the best recommendation of cacao is, that it comes from Caraccas; but even there its qualities vart in different provinces. The cacao of Oriuco is superior to that of other places, and weighs twenty per cent. more than an equal quantity of any other. Next to that is the cacao of the coast, which is preferred to that of the in terior. The plantations of cacao arc all either to the north of the chain of mountains which coast the sea, or in the interior country. Two principal crops of them arc gathered in a year; one about St John's day, the other towards the end of December. The cacao ripens, how ever, and is gathered during year. But in all seasons the planters of Caraccas endeavour, as far as possible, to collect their crops only at the wane of the moon, imagining that the nuts arc then more solid, and less liable to spoil. Some of them, however, ridicule this practice, as no less inconvenient than absurd; be cause, if the harvest continue only during the fifteen days of the moon's decline, much of the ripe fruit must be left rotting on the tree, and a great loss would thus be incurred by suspending the harvest during the moon's increase. More attention is paid to the culture and pre
paration of cacao in the eastern part of Terra Firma, than in any other part of the world ; and to this attention, as much perhaps as to the excellence of the soil, must we ascribe that superiority which the cacao raised here possesses over that of every other country.
Till the year 1744, cacao was the only article of culti vation in Caraccas. At that time two individuals intro duced the culture of indigo, which, in spite of strong prejudices against it, succeeded so well, that all new plantations were now prepared for indigo. The vallics of Aragoa, where it was first cultivated, exhibited an unexampled and astonishing rapidity of increase. Over immense plains, lying till then in a state of nature, plan tations of indigo rose as if by enchantment. And the concourse of cultivators gave rise to many new villages. and restored others from a state of ruin to the elegance and importance of cities. The culture of indigo has extended from the vallies of Aragoa to the south-west as far as Varinas. None of it appears on the coast, nor eastward of the town of Caraccas to the gulf of Patio., nor southward to the Oronoko. To enter into a detail of the process by which indigo is prepared, would be here out of place. We may only observe, that the inhabitants of Terra Firma, instead of suspending it in sacks, after fermentation, dry it under sheds. This method, though tedious, is favourable to the quality of the indigo. It thus acquires greater hardness and lustre, and its weight, in proportion to bulk, is considerably more than that of indigo dried in the sun. In packing this commodity, likewise, the Spaniards have adopted a better method than that which is usually followed. Instead of putting it into barrels, they pack it in sacks of coarse linen, over which a calf's hide is so hermetically sewed as to be quite impenetrable. These packages, which are called ceroons, possess great advantages over barrels. They are more solid, more convenient for transportation, nor are they liable to any damage from the rough usage which they may encounter on their conveyance from the place of manufacture to any European port, or from the care lessness and unskilfulness of carriers in their subse quent circulation.