Climate and Health.— The marked climatic variations are occasioned chiefly by differences in elevation, latitude and vegetation. The Guiana Highland region is, however, exceptional on account of its comparatively uniform ele vation, which tends to equalization of temper atures, etc. Naturally in those parts of this region where mountain ridges rise above the general level of the plateau the temperature is lower than the average, but these constitute a small part of the whole. There is an important difference in the meteorological conditions in the various river-valleys of the Orinoco Basin, where the i.e., the swiftly flow ing but muddy streams, with rocky beds—are always accompanied by a clear sky overhead, and•mosquitoes and crocodiles abound; on the the deep and slow rivers — the sky is continually clouded, but the air is free from mosquitoes. The Orinoco represents the former type, the Rio Negro the latter. The rainy season in the Guiana Highland region be gins in April and lasts till November; the re maining four months are fairly dry. The re gion of northern Venezuela is divided climati cally into three regions, the hot, temperate and cold zones. The hot zone or Tierra caliente ranges from sea-level to an elevation of about 1,900 feet, where the mean annual temperature varies from 74° F. to 91° F. The inter mediate or temperate zone, the Tierra tempiada, lies between 1,900 and about 7,000 feet above sea-level, and within these limits the mean an nual temperature may fall as low as 59° or 60° F. The Tierra fria, or cold zone, including the highest peak in Venezuela, 16,423 feet, has mean annual temperatures ranging from to zero. The Tierra caliente includes the greater part of Venezuelan Guiana, the Llanos, the coastal plains, the region of the lake of Maracaibo, the lower slopes and part of the central valleys of the mountains, and the Carib bean islands belonging to Venezuela. On the Llanos the hottest regions are the-southere and western; the rainfall is heavy, and the wet sea son lasts from April to November. Maracaibo has the highest temperature of the cities of the coastal region; there the area around the lake is comparatively free from rain until August and September. The Tierra templada includes the greater part of the inhabited region of the hills. In the eastern part of the Caribbean Hills the rains last duripg the same months as in the Llanos, but in the Andes, partiCularly to the south, the seasons vary, and it is generally considered that there are two rainy seasons (light rains from April to June and heavy rains from August to November) ; but this applies rather to the eastern side of the watershed, the western side having an increasing similarity in seasons to the Llanos as one descends toward those plains. Only the higher portions of the Caribbean Hills are included in the Tierra fria, but between Tocuyo and the Colombian frontier the greaterpart of the area is situated above 7,000 feet. There strong winds prevail and the vegetation is sparse. The snow line being normally about 14,700 feet above sea-level, only the peaks of the highest mountains are snow capped throughout the year.
The death rate for the whole republic is somewhat more than 25 per 1,000, and statistical tables show the largest tolls to be exacted by malaria (pa/aclistno), typhoid fever, tuberculo sis and gastric or nervous diseases. The Delta region is, of course, unhealthful. Statistics show that the Llanos division is by far the healthiest, with the Andes next, and then the Caribbean Hills; and it is true that, although in some of the coast towns situated near swampy ground the death rate is high, the northern coast as a whole presents conditions favorable to health.
Geological History and Mineral Re Mr. Dalton says that the geological changes which have played their part in the building up of the physical features of the country have left Venezuela in possession of splendid assets in respect to the minerals. The Venezuelan Guiana Highlands are not only formed of the oldest rocks in this republic but represent one of the most ancient land-surfaces in the world. €The great elevated platform from which rise the peaks and mountain chains of Venezuelan Guiana appears everywhere to be composed of similar rocks, gneisses, horn blende schists and granites, all containing evi dence of great antiquity in geological time. This complex is considered to be one of the oldest members of the Archman system. Into its crevices and joints, dykes of quartz-porphyries and felsite were forced. Later movements of the earth's crust produced a shallow sea or series of lakes over this same region, and in these waters a series of beds of red and white sandstones, coarse conglomerate and red shale were laid down to a thickness of 2,000 feet. Then the area was again elevated into dry land and again veins or dykes of basalt, dolerite and similar rocks in a molten condition forced them selves into the fraCtures of gneisses and sand stone alike. The vertical-sided, flat-topped mountains of Guiana appear to be the result of protection that caps of igneous rock afforded to the softer sandstones immediately below. Such portions of the softer material as were thus protected from the effects of atmospheric weathering remain still as upstanding masses of horizontally stratified material, while surround ing unprotected masses have been denuded from the ancient foundation of gneiss. The geologi cal history of the northern part of the coun try has been eventful in comparatively recent times; for, although no volcanoes, active or recently extinct, are known in Venezuela, the country has repeatedly sustained earthquake shocks. The first important tremor noticed after the discovery of the shores of the Caribbean was that of 1530, which destroyed the fortress of Cumana. Earthquake and hurricane visited New Cadiz in 1543 and so disastrous were the results that from that day to the present Cubagua has been a desert island. In the 19th century there were three earthquakes of great severity. In March 1812 a shock destroyed great parts of Caracas. La Guaira, Barquisimeto, Merida and other towns, and in the capital alone 10,000 people were killed. The other two occurred on 13 Aug. 1868 and in 1894.
With justice this part of the world has long held the reputation of being rich in minerals. Placer workings are the chief source of fold in the Guasipati goldfields in Venezuelan uuiana, but the reefs from which it is derived have been discovered and worked at odd times; and in British Guiana, where the conditions are similar, the gold is generally found along the sive dykes, the smallest dykes being the richest, while most gold is found where a basalt in trusion crosses one of the older ones. Coal of fairly good quality occurs in more than one of the Cretaceous and Tertiary groups of strata, near Barcelona, Tocuvo, Coro and Maracaibo, as well as in the Andes. Iron is found in the gneiss south of the Orinoco Delta. Copper ores are fairly common in the northern cordillera, and the mines of Aroa in Yaracuv have been worked for years. Asphalt is found in the Pedernales district and on the shores of Lake Maracaibo; and in the state of Monagas the Bermudez of asphalt covers 1,000 acres. Other minerals are galena, sulphur, marble, kaolin, gypsum, calcium phosphate, opal, onyx, jasper, quartz, feldspar, talc, mica, staurolite, asbestos, antimony, silver add tin.