SALT MONOPOLY 69 



notably at Coro, Coche, and at Araya to the north of the 

 town of Cumand, The last mentioned is, I believe, by 

 far the most important of the lot ; and, as I happened 

 on one occasion to be a passenger from Cumana to La 

 Guaira on board a schooner which touched at Araya and 

 took a cargo of salt, I shall describe the system followed 

 by the government in controlling the sale of this very 

 necessary article. To Ciudad-Bolivar and the other 

 towns on the banks of the Orinoco situated in the llanos 

 where numbers of cattle are reared and much beef 

 preserved, salt is a commodity of such importance that a 

 detailed account of how it is procured will not be out of 

 place here. 



When a trader decides on a deal in salt, his first care 

 is to obtain the polizas, or permits, with which he can 

 proceed to the salt-pan he has fixed upon for taking his 

 cargo. At La Guaira or Puerto Cabello he can secure 

 polizas for any of the pans, but if he happen to be at any 

 other port, such as Cumana or Juan Griego, he can only 

 obtain permits for the salina ^ lying within the juris- 

 diction of the town where he is. The money for the salt 

 must be paid in advance, and then the trader obtains his 

 polizas specifying the quantity of salt he has bought, and 

 is entitled to take from the salina on which the order 

 is issued. For several years the average price at which 

 these permits have been granted is 10 pesos ^ the f anega 

 of 130 kilograms ; that is equivalent to 8 dollars for 

 300 pounds, or very nearly 3 cents per pound. When 

 Humboldt visited the salt-works of Araya 103 years ago 

 the price of salt was 12 reals — this is 1 dollar and 

 20 cents the fanega — and the deposits were then, as they 



* Salt-pan. 



- A peso is equal to 80 cents U.S. money or 3s. 4d. sterling. 



