NATURAL FEATURES OF VENEZUELA. 519 



The chief wealth of Venezuela consists in products of the 

 soil, natural and cultivated. There are many coffee and cacao 

 plantations in the mountain valleys near the coast, and coffee to 

 the value of fourteen million dollars is exported yearly, which is 

 double the value of all other exports. Among the other culti- 

 vated articles are manioc, sugar, cocoanuts, maize (Indian corn), 

 tobacco, wheat, cotton, indigo, sweet potatoes, and melons. Canoes 

 which ascend the upper Orinoco and its branches to the forested 

 region of the southeast bring down rubber, vanilla and tonka 

 beans, fruits, gums, and drugs. The forests are also rich in cabi- 

 net and dye woods, useful fibers, from which cordage and ham- 

 mocks are made, and a variety of other products. The deadly 

 arrow poison called urari by the natives is made in the district 

 south of the Orinoco. 



The central plains of the republic form a vast grazing range 

 which supports millions of horned cattle, horses, and asses. These 

 herds are subject to great vicissitudes ; they were reduced to a 

 small fraction of their normal size by the war for independence, 

 and again by the civil wars ending in 1863, while vast numbers of 

 horses and asses were destroyed by a murrain which broke out in 

 1843. Their numbers have, however, been restored, and the stock 

 has been improved recently. Sheep and goats are bred in the 

 mountainous district of the northwest, whence goatskins (known 

 as Curagoa kid) are largely exported. 



The animal life of the forest is varied and abundant. The 

 howling ape makes his presence known morning and evening to 

 -all within earshot, and fifteen other simians are met with. The 

 representatives of the cat tribe include the jaguar, puma, and 

 ocelot. There are also harmless bears living on fish and honey, 

 the ant-eater, the cavy, the cuchi-cuchi, the tapir, various species 

 of deer, and the slothful sloth, which, as Reclus says, " after de- 

 vouring the foliage of a cecropia, utters long, plaintive cries at 

 having to climb another." Myriads of birds of brilliant plumage 

 vie with the tropical flowers to enliven the somberness of the 

 forest. The waterfowl are no less numerous; it is said that a 

 regiment, encamped near the confluence of the Apure River with 

 the Orinoco, lived for a week on wild duck without appreciably 

 reducing their numbers. One of the curiosities of Venezuelan 

 bird life is the guacharo, a night-flying fruit-eater which inhabits 

 caves in certain of the coast districts. Its fat yields a much-prized 

 table oil. 



Both the salt and fresh waters of the country abound in fish. 

 Sixty-pound turtles are abundant in the large rivers, but will not 

 long continue so unless the taking of their eggs is limited. Three 

 species of alligators are found in the rivers and lakes, while the 

 manatee and porpoise enter the Orinoco from the ocean. The 



