100 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I02 



where the flour and other products of the State await shipment, is 

 Las Barbacoas, so called because the Indians have built their habita- 

 tions there over the water or in the trees, to protect themselves against 

 the mosquitoes. The Spaniards come down to this harbor for the 

 departure of the frigates. 



281. The city of Zamora on the Lake of Maracaibo has a marvelous 

 and delightful outlook, salubrious air and bright skies ; it is abundantly 

 provisioned and a pleasant spot. It contains a church and a Fran- 

 ciscan convent ; the water of the lake washes against its houses. It 

 lies 6 leagues from the outlet to the sea, 12 from the port of Las 

 Barbacoas, and 50 from Coro. Several rivers of this State empty into 

 the lake, and others from the New Kingdom of Granada, notably the 

 mighty Rio de Zulia, which rises at Pamplona, and down which they 

 transport its products. This lake empties into the sea ; its mouth is half 

 a league wide, and has a reef and rocks which act as a bar, so that 

 only frigates can enter. They say that this province got the name of 

 Venezuela (little Venice) because of this lake, where the Indians live 

 "en barbacoas" (cabins in trees or over water) in the lake, as has 

 been narrated above. 



Chapter XXXI 



Continuing the Description of the Provinces of Venezuela, and the 

 Strange Things To Be Found in Its Territory. 



282. Venezuela, in the language native to that country, means big 

 water, from the great Lake of Maracaibo which lies in its district, 

 as if one should say "the province of the big lake." It was the 

 Velsares, Germans, who came out to this province to govern it in the 

 year 1528, having made a contract with His Imperial Majesty, 

 Charles V, to settle and subdue those provinces ; but they never accom- 

 plished anything of value or importance, for the glory, after God, is 

 due to the valor of the invincible Spaniards, who with great hard- 

 ships and trials accomplished so many famous deeds in those regions, 

 at their own expense, risking their lives to immortalize their fame, and 

 succeeding in both efforts, though the majority of their descendants 

 are poor and unrewarded. 



283. In these provinces there are some mines called Cocorote, rich 

 in gold ore and veins, but no longer worked and exploited for lack of 

 labor. At these mines there are very remarkable tall trees ; their trunk 

 is bulkier than a pipe of wine, and their bark is green, thick and full 

 of sap. If one drives a knife into it or makes a hole in it, a natural 

 milk oozes out, like cow's milk in color and taste ; when cooked it 



