420 



CARACCAS, 



Caraccas. 



Bounda- 



Tempera- 

 ture. 



Mouii- 



tains. 



AN extensive district in the eastern part of Terra 

 Firma, in South America, comprehending the pro- 

 vince of Venezuela in the centre, the government of 

 Maracai'bo on the west, Guiana on the south, the go- 

 vernment of Cumana on the east, and the island of 

 Margaretta on the north-east. This district is bound- 

 ed on the north by the Atlantic ocean, from 72 35' 

 to 60 west longitude, that is, from the Cape de la 

 Vela to the point of Megilones or Paria ; the ocean 

 likewise forms its eastern boundary, from 12 to 8 

 of north latitude ; on the south it is bounded by 

 Dutch Guiana and Peru ; and on the west by the 

 kingdom of Santa Fe. 



A country extending from the twelfth degree of 

 latitude to the equator, might be expected to suffer 

 all the relentless severity of a tropical sun. In some 

 places, indeed, the heat of the torrid zone is felt 

 without any abatement ; but in a great proportion of 

 this wide province, the inhabitants enjoy the mildness 

 of a perpetual spring. This peculiarity of tempera- 

 ture is occasioned by the link of a chain of mountains, 

 which, commencing at one of the Andes of Quito, 

 traverses Merida and the government of Varinas, then 

 stretches to the north as far as the coast, and, taking 

 thence an easterly direction, insensibly diminishes in 

 height till it finally loses itself in the island of Tri- 

 nidad. That part of the chain which traverses the 

 district of Caraccas, is, in its ordinary breadth, fifteen 

 leagues, in some points twenty, but no where less than 

 ten. In general the elevation of these mountains is so 

 moderate, that they are not only habitable, but sus- 

 ceptible of all the operations of agriculture. The east- 

 ern Picacho alone, towering in sullen majesty to the 

 stupendous height of 1278 fathoms, bids defiance to 

 the efforts of human industry. Next to it in grandeur is 

 the Tumeriquiri, which rises 935 fathoms above the 

 level of the sea. The variety of temperature which 

 these eminences produce, is extremely favourable to 

 the diversity of vegetable productions. 



After passing these mountains from north to south, 

 we find immense plains stretching from east to west, 

 from the village of Pas, in 64 35' of west longitude, 

 to the bottom of the mountains of Santa Fe. In these 

 plains, which are bounded on the south by the river 

 Oronoko, the heat is so intense as to be nearly in- 

 tolerable. The strong vegetation which prevails in 

 general upon these mountains, and the calcareous sub- 

 stances with which they abound, seem to prove, 

 that they are of the second order of mountains ; accu- 

 mulated strata of different substances, formed by vari- 

 ous revolutions of the globe, or by violent convul- 

 sions of nature. Yet, upon the Saddle mountain, the 

 highest of that chain, Baron Humboldt has found 

 some fine granite, of which quartz, felt-spar, and mi- 

 ca are the constituent parts ; a clear indication, ac- 

 cording to the same system, that this mountain, at 

 lease, is either primitive, or has emerged at a much 

 earlier period than its companions from the bosom of 

 the waters. Whatever support may be derived from 



the structure of these mountains to any, or to both Caraccas. 

 of the contending theories, by which geologists are v *" B -Y"" i "' 

 at present so keenly agitated, they afford at least to 

 the agriculturist, in the rich variety of their produc- 

 tions, a field of speculation and of industry, amply 

 sufficient to occupy his time, and to gratify his fond- 

 est hopes of gain. 



The gradual changes of temperature, the delight- Seasons 

 ful blending of the seasons, which so agreeably di- 

 versify the year in the temperate climates of Europe, 

 are unknown to the inhabitants of the Caraccas. 

 Winter and summer here complete the year : nor are 

 these seasons distinguished so much by the various 

 degrees of heat and cold, as by the rains which pre- 

 vail during the former, and the drought by which the 

 latter is characterized. The rainy season, or winter, 

 continues from the end of April to the beginning of 

 November ; during the six remaining months, which 

 constitute summer, the rains are less frequent, and in 

 some years even rare. There are some days, even in 

 the rainy season, when not a drop falls ; but there 

 are others, though not very frequent, when it rains 

 incessantly. M. Depons calculates that, taking one 

 day with another, it rains for the space of three hours 

 each day ; and oftener in the evening than in the morn- 

 ing. The quantity of rain which falls during that 

 season, is nearly equal in the provinces of Venezuela, 

 Cumana, and Guiana ; and the benefits and disad- 

 vantages which the rains bring along with them, are 

 participated by the plains, mountains, and vallies. 

 The drizzling rains of the polar regions are never 

 seen in this part of South America ; nor can an in- 

 habitant of countries even within the temperate zone 

 form any adequate idea of the sudden heavy falls 

 common in these latitudes ; the discharges from water- 

 spouts rushing down with the violence of a torrent, 

 and producing more moisture in a single day than the 

 rains of Europe do in six. During the greater part of 

 the rainy season, all the rivers inundate the adjacent 

 plains ; channels, formed by the violence of the floods, 

 which remained dry during the rest of the year, are 

 now converted into torrents, and overflowing their 

 banks to an immense distance, form a kind of tem- 

 porary sea, where the traveller can descry only the 

 tops of the loftiest trees, which then serve him as 

 landmarks. The northern plains of the Oronoko are 

 overwhelmed by such an annual deluge, to the extent 

 of one hundred and fifty leagues in length, and forty 

 in breadth. Previous to the year 1792, the rains 

 were uniformly accompanied with vivid lightnings and 

 tremendous peals of thunder j since that period, how- 

 ever, at least till 1804-, rain falls in great abundance 

 without any of the usual accompaniments of a storm. 

 The atmospheric electricity appears to have been at- 

 tracted and accumulated in that mass of matter which 

 forms the Corderilleras ; and to this cause are to be 

 ascribed those earthquakes which were so dreadfully 

 experienced at Cumana, in the month of December, 

 1797. (See CUMANA.) Though placed between the 



