220 AVES ISLAND. 



recital, and again referring to tlie high, national importance and utility 

 of the work and of its prompt conclusion, it is enacted that the execu- 

 tive power shall place five " thousand dollars more at the disposition of 

 Colonel Codazzi for the same purpose. 



On the 4th of September, 1840, M. Berthelot, general secretary of 

 the central committee of the Geographical Society of Paris, read to 

 that society in its session of that day a "report upon the geographical 

 and statistical labors executed in all the extension of the territory of 

 Venezuela by Colonel Codazzi." From this report the following re- 

 marks are extracted : 



''M. Codazzi, colonel of engineers, recently arrived in Paris, is 

 charged by his government to cause to be engraved in France the great 

 chart of the republic of Venezuela and the atlas of its provinces com- 

 posed of twenty sheets. A special work dedicated to public instruction 

 will accompany these productions, and will form two handsome volumes 

 embracing the whole political history of Venezuela, the description, 

 geography, and the statistics of that region." * * * * 



''I shall be able to give you only a succinct idea of the work which 

 the congress has thus ordered to be printed under the direction of Col- 

 onel Codazzi, to whom has been granted the obsolute ownership of the 

 same as a national recompense." ***** 



"The great map of Venezuela, the reductions and separated portions 

 of which form an atlas arranged by provinces, is the result of ten years 

 of incessant labors. This general map or chart presented to the insti- 

 tute by M. Arago has attracted the fixed attention of our savants." 



^ Sji 5jC ^C 5|C ^ ^ ;{< 



''It remains for me, in concluding this report, to express a desire 

 which you will doubtless grant, that this excellent work of Colonel 

 Codazzi be admitted to compete for the annual premium which you 

 adjudge to those voyagers who have best served the cause of science." 



On the 15th of March, 1841, a committee of the institute of France 

 composed of Messrs. Arago, Savary, and Elie de Beaumont, presented, 

 through their reporter, Mr. Bossingault, a '^report upon the geograph- 

 ical and statistical works executed in the republic of Venezuela in pur- 

 suance of the orders of its congress." 



From this report the following extracts are cited : 



"By a decree of the 14th of October, 1830, the congress of Venezuela 

 authorized the executive power to cause to be formed a general chart 

 of the republic, and to cause to be collected in a single work the docu- 

 ments relating to the history and statistics of the country." * * 



"Colonel Codazzi was charged with the direction of this important 

 work by the President of the republic. Mr. Codazzi has traversed during 

 the period of ten years and in all directions the vast territory of Vene- 

 zuela. * * * The government having afforded to this engineer the 

 means of proceeding to Europe to publish the result of his labors, he 

 has selected France for that purpose, where his first step has been to 

 submit to the judgment of the Academy of Sciences the fruit of his long 

 and laborious researches." ****** 



"The examination of your committee has, with propriety, especially 

 been devoted to the value of the elements employed by Mr. Codazzi in 

 the construction of the atlas, and to the degree of confidence which the 



