422 



CARACCAS. 



Vegetable 

 produc- 

 tions. 



Caraccas. niards, disappointed in their expectation of wealth 

 ~~Y~ ' from its mines, engaged eagerly in the pearl fishery, 

 which, for some time, was the most considerable 

 source of their riches, and the most important branch 

 of the royal revenues. This fishery was carried on 

 between the islands of Cubagua and Margaretta, at 

 the expence of a great many lives, both of Spaniards 

 and Indians. Several other untoward circumstances 

 caused them at length to abandon their fishery, which 

 has never been resumed. It is even pretended, that 

 the pearls have disappeared from the eastern coast; 

 and the first place on the leeward, where that fishery 

 is carried on with some success, is a bay situated be- 

 tween Cape Chichibacoa and Cape de la Vela, occu- 

 pied by the Guihiros Indians, who sell their pearls 

 to the Dutch and English. 



The luxuriant soil of the Caraccas yields an ex- 

 haustless store of the most valuable vegetable pro- 

 ductions. Its mountains are clothed with forests, 

 consisting of all the kinds of wood to be found in 

 the Antilles, besides a great many species peculiar 

 to themselves. The most extensive ship-yards might 

 be supplied for ages from these mountains with tim- 

 ber of the finest quality ; and carpenters and cabinet- 

 makers find such variety of materials for their diffe- 

 rent purposes, that their principal difficulty is to 

 make a selection. The wood called by the Spa- 

 niards Pardillo, is generally used for beams, door 

 frames, and posts. In some places, instead of the 

 pardillo, they substitute a species of very hard oak, 

 which is the quercus cents of Linnaeus, and the quer- 

 cus gallifer of Tournefort. Cedar is much employ- 

 ed by cabinet-makers for doors, windows, tables, 

 and common chairs. For ornamental furniture, they 

 have several kinds of wood susceptible of the highest 

 polish. Of these the most distinguished is the black 

 ebony, which abounds in several places, but particu- 

 larly on the banks of the Totondoy, a spot appa- 

 rently intended by Nature as the nursery of those 

 trees which contribute most to the necessities or to 

 the pleasure of man. Yellow and red ebony are both 

 very common in the forests of Terra Firma ; but ma- 

 hogany is neither so abundant here, nor so fine, as in 

 that part of St Domingo which Spain has ceded to 

 France ; yet, in richness, and variety of colouring, no 

 mahogany can vie with the chacarandy, a native of 

 Caraccas, which, when properly polished, possesses 

 a degree of beauty which no species of timber, per- 

 haps, can exceed. For works which require timber 

 of extraordinary hardness, they employ iron-wood, 

 the ybera puterana of Marcgrave ; or red ebony, 

 which is even harder than iron-wood. The only 

 wood for dyeing which has yet been found in Carac- 

 cas is the Brazil wood ; but, in truth, the forests of 

 this favoured country have been so little explored, 

 that their treasures are very imperfectly known. 



Almost every part of this district abounds in me- 

 dical plants, gums, resins, roots, and barks, which, 

 if duly attended to, would augment incalculably the 

 riches of the inhabitants, and produce the most es- 

 sential benefits to mankind. The quantity of sarsa- 

 parilla which grows here is more than sufficient for 

 the consumption of the whole of Europe; sassafras 

 and liquorice abound in the neighbourhood of Trux- 

 illo ; squills are found on the sea-beach of Lagune- 



tas ; storax in the jurisdiction of Coro ; cassia in al- Caracea* 

 most every part of the country ; gayac on the coast ; ^""Y"'"* 

 aloes are raised in Carora ; a species of quinguir.a is 

 obtained on the mountains ; in short, the pharmaco- 

 poeia of both the continents might be supplied from 

 the vegetable stores of the Caraccas. In this enu- 

 meration of the native productions of this genial soil, 

 we must not omit the vanilla, produced from a creep- 

 ing plant, which, like the ivy or wild vine, entwines 

 around trees. This plant, which requires uncultiva- 

 ted and moist ground covered with large trees, grows 

 in great plenty in the forests, of St Philip and Trux- 

 illo, on the banks of the Tuy. It is worth about 

 100 francs a pound ; and the province of Venezuela 

 alone, might, with some attention, be made to pro- 

 duce 20,000 pounds weight of it in a year. To pro- 

 pagate this valuable plant, nothing more is necessa- 

 ry than to insert some cuttings in the earth near a 

 tree ; they soon take root, and entwine firmly around 

 it. A surer method to prevent the decay of the 

 plant, is to graft the cuttings in the tree itself, about 

 twenty inches above the ground. In the same list 

 with vanilla may be placed wild cochineal, which 

 grows in great quantities in the departments of Coro, 

 Carora, and Truxillo. To be enabled to form a pro- 

 per estimate of its value, the reader may consult a 

 memoir lately published at Paris by M. Bruley, an 

 intelligent and ingenious planter in Caraccas. 



Nor does the animal kingdom, in this luxuriant Animals, 

 country, yield to the vegetable in profusion and va- 

 lue. Within the captain- generalship of Caraccas, 

 200,000 horned cattle, 180,000 horses, and 90,000 

 mules, roam over the plains and vallies. Sheep are 

 innumerable ; and deer abound, particularly in Coro, 

 Carora, and Tocuyo. In short, the account which 

 M. Depons, after a long residence in this country, 

 has given of its fertility and productions, amply war- 

 rants his assertion, that there are few countries to 

 which Nature has been more lavish of her favours. 



The fertility, as well as the beauty of these de- Riven, 

 light ful regions, depends, perhaps, in no inconsider- 

 able degree, on the number of fine rivers which pour 

 down in all directions from the mountains. Not a 

 valley is without its river, which, if not always large 

 enough to be navigable, is at least sufficient to irri- 

 gate plantations, and would afford wonderful fa- 

 cilities to many important branches of manufac- 

 tures. Those which have their source in the chain 

 of mountains, flowing from south to north, are dis- 

 charged into the sea ; while those which spring from 

 the southern declivities of the same mountains, tra- 

 verse, in a southern direction, the whole extent of 

 the intermediate plains, till they resign their tributa- 

 ry streams to the majestic Oronoko. The former, 

 strongly fenced in by their banks, and happily fa- 

 voured in their progress by the declivity of their 

 channels, seldom overflow, and when they do, their 

 overflowings are not long or detrimental. The latter, 

 flowing through smoother grounds, and in shallower 

 beds, mingle their waters during a great part of the 

 year, and lose all appearance of rivers in the general 

 inundation. All these rivers dwindle into insignifi- 

 cance when compared with the Oronoko, which, 

 with the exception perhaps of the Amazons, is the 

 largest river in the world. The particular descrip- 



