\ i'Ai'i "\ ::''. 



VENEZUKLA. 



]T- J - with fog* riling from the ditoha* and drain*. The change* of 

 tatupwatnr* on tli o-t ar* sudden. 



Above three-fifth* of th ana of the department are under the 

 ploiuh. bat ajricultur* i* in a very backward itate. Wheat, barley, 

 oil*, rye, tnUlet, buckwheat, hemp, and flax are grown. The gran- 

 Uod* mearare about 170,000 acre*, and the heath* and open pastures 

 mount to abore 160,000 acre*; they are chiefly In the Booage and 

 the Mania. The breed of hone* i* email bat rigorous ; a great 

 number of mule* and a*** ar* bred. Horned cattle and iheep are of 

 inferior breed*. The vineyard* occupy abore 40,000 acre*, yielding 

 annually about 6,000,000 gallon* of bad white wine. The woodlands 

 occupy about 70,000 acre*, and the orchard* about 20,000 acre*; the 

 apple, the cherry, and the chestnut are the principal fruit*. 



The department U dirided into three arrondiawment*, a* follow* : 



1. In the fint arrondissement the chief town, Napoleon- ViOt, 

 originally Hwlu-iur-Yon (which name it bore till 1808, when the 

 population wa only about 800), after the restoration Bourbon- 

 VemtUe, after the revolution of 1S48 Napoleon-Vendee, and since again 

 MfMfaM- l*i/b, i* the capital of the department It is situated in 

 4* 40' 17" N. Ut, 1* 25' 23' W. long., 285 miles &W. from Paris, on 

 a hai above the little river Yon, and has a college, a tribunal of first 

 initance, and 8188 inhabitant*. Napoleon I. chose the village and 

 cattle of Roche-iur-Yon to be the rite of the capital of the depart- 

 ment, and authorised the erection of the necessary public buildings. 

 In the centre of the town, and on the summit of the hill, is the Place 

 Koyale, a spacious rectangle bordered with rows of trees, and sur- 

 rounded by good buildings; into this square the principal streets, 

 which are straight, wide, clean, and well built, open. Many of the 

 UeeU are (till only traced out The chief buildings are a handsome 

 pariih church ; the residence of the mayor, a beautiful Grecian struc- 

 ture, adorned with a peristyle ; a market-house, which is a square 

 building, *urroundcd by a peristyle supported on several steps; a 

 theatre; the prefect's residence ; the great barrack ; and the hospital 



2. Of the iccond arronduwment the chief town is Pontenai-lc- 

 Omit, rituated on the slope of a hill above the left bank of the 

 Vendee, in a plain between the Bocage and the Feus, has a tribunal 

 of first initance, a college, and 7848 inhabitants. The town has 

 a very pretty appearance, and is approached by four fine roads, 

 leading from Nantei, Rochellc, Sanmur, and Niort The streets in 

 the older parts of the town are narrow and winding. The principal 

 building* are the beautiful gothic church of Notre-Dame, with a 

 spire 264 feet high ; the college, which is surrounded by walls and 

 garden*, and ha* accommodation for 400 boarders ; the hospital, the 

 new prison, the theatre, and the pretty fountain, whence the town 

 ha* iu name, near the ruins of the old castle of the counts of Poitiers. 

 The trade of Fontenai in corn, timber, seeds, oak-staves, coals, 

 charcoal, provisions, and Bordeaux wines, for which Fontenai is an 

 entrepot, i* greatly facilitated by the navigation of the Vendee. The 

 manufacture* are linen and coarse woollen-stuffs. The Republicans 

 were defeated here by the Vendean* under Laroehejacquelin, Lescure, 

 and Bonehamp*, Hay 24, 179S. Lufon, a gloomy town, situated on 

 the eastern edge of the Fens, and at the extremity of the Lucon 

 Canal (which is navigable for vessels of 60 tons) gives title to a bishop, 

 and has a dioceann seminary and 4300 inhabitants. 



8. The third arrondi**ement has for its chief town La-SabUt, or 

 Lt+KaUtt dOlonxt, which is situated on a peninsula on the coast, and 

 uinl*< of aeveral long, clean, and well-paved streets. The southern 

 part of the town stand* on a (light eminence; the suburb of I.a- 

 Chaame, built on a level rock, U separated from the town by a canal. 

 The harbour admit* veueU of 200 tons. The town is protected in 

 one pan by the salt-marshes, in another by a wall, and towards the 

 port and the *ea by a fort and batteries. There are two churches, a 

 nunnery, a school of navigation, a lighthouse, two almshouses, or 

 hoepitau, and a prison. The townsmen are engaged in ship-building, 

 rope-making, and in the fishery, particularly of the pilchard. Corn, 

 alt, and wine are exported, \oinnouticr, a small sea-port on the isle 

 of Noinnoutier, with about 2500 inhabitant*, is well-built and well- 

 paved : the road afford* good anchorage for vessels of 200 tons, and 

 there i* a tide harbour with 12 feet of water when the tide is up. 



The department constitute* the diocese of Lucon, the bishop of 

 which i* luflragan of the archbinhop of Bordeaux : it in included in 

 the jurisdiction of the High Court and within the limits of the 

 University-Academy of Poitien. It is comprehended in the 15th 

 Military Divuion, the head-quarters of which are at Nantes; and 

 end* three member* to the Legislative Body of the French empire. 



VIIK. [ACBJ 



YI:M)I>MK. [Lom-rr-CMR.] 



VBNEX.IA. [VMCICE.] 



VENEZUELA, Republic of, South America, extend* over the north- 



eastern portion of that continent, being situated between 1* 10' and 

 12 20' N. lat, 60" and 78* W. long. It is bounded N. by the 

 Caribbean Sea, W. and a\V. by New Granada, S. by Brazil, and k by 

 Brazil, English Guyann, and the Atlantic Ocean. The area is esti- 

 mated at about 417,000 square miles, but the boundaries are very 

 irregular, and not very strictly defined. The population in 1861 wag 

 1,356,000. 



Sca-cocut. The sea-coast of Venezuela extend* from the Boca de 

 Navios, or principal mouth of the river Orinoco, in a general west- 

 north-west direction to tho innermost recess of the Gulf of Paria and 

 the peninsula of Paria, a distance rather exceeding 200 miles. The 

 whole of this tract is very low ; it is composed of a great number of 

 islands, which consist of alluvium brought down by the Orinooo and 

 the Rio Guarapiche, which traverse it by several channels ; an<l it. is 

 overgrown with trees, which in some parts are high, but in others are 

 only bushes. The peninsula of Paria divides the gulf of that name 

 from the Caribbean Sea. It is occupied by a ridge of high rocks, 

 which on the southern side approach near the sea and form several 

 small harbour*. The northern shore, from the Puuta de Paria to tho 

 Punta d'Araya, presents only naked rocks, less elevated than those 

 along the Gulf of Paria, which iu some places also come close up to 

 the water, but in others recede to some distance, leaving along the 

 shore small plains, the soil of which is arid and sterile. The elevated 

 coast which surrounds the Gulf of Cariaco shelters it against the 

 swell and against all prevailing winds, and renders its waters as 

 smooth as a lake. Opposite the peninsula of Araya is the island of 

 Margarita, which constitutes one of the provinces of the republic. 

 It is about 40 miles long and 20 miles wide in its broadest part, and 

 consists of two large masses connected by a narrow isthmus about 

 10 miles in length. The eastern mass, called Cerro de Copei, is 3240 

 feet, and the western, called Cerro del Macauao, is 4573 feet high. 

 Between Cumand and Barcelona, about 72 miles, the coast is of mode- 

 rate elevation, but rather steep, and it contains several good harbours. 

 Between the high and rocky islands which lie along this coast are 

 some narrow but deep straits. From Barcelona to Cape Coders, about 

 128 miles, the shores are low and sandy, and in most places covered 

 with salt-swamps, lagoons, or morasses. The coast between Cape 

 Codera and Puerto Cabello, about 155 miles, is very high. Mountains 

 rise like a wall from the water's edge, with a steep ascent to a great 

 elevation. It contains several harbours, but they are mostly open. 

 From Puerto Cabello to La Vela de Coro, 165 miles, the coast is in 

 general low, sandy, and arid ; but in many parts covered with man- 

 grove-trees (Rtuzophora mangle), and in others swampy and overgrown 

 with bushes. The isthmus which connects the peninsula of Paraguand 

 with the continent is about 1 8 miles long and 3 miles wide, and con- 

 sists of low sand-hills, interrupted by some swamps and small lagoons. 

 The peninsula of Paraguanrf is occupied by an isolated mountain mass 

 called F.I Cerito de Santa Ana. There are several small harbours on 

 the western shores of the peninsula. Farther west, as far as the 

 channel of the Lake of Maraeaibo, the coast ia low, sandy, arid, and 

 in some places covered with swamps or lagoons ; and the same 

 description of coast continues westward on the islands of Zapara and 

 San Carlos, and, west of them, on the peninsula of Goajira to Corojo, 

 at which place it rises to some elevation, and this elevation generally 

 continues to Cape Chichibacoa, the most western point of the coast of 

 Venezuela. The whole coast-line of the republic is 1584 miles, of 

 which about 160 miles are washed by the Atlantic Ocean, an equal 

 extent borders on the Gulf of Paria, and the remainder forms the 

 Bauthern shores of the Caribbean Sea. 



Surface and Soil. Venezuela contains three distinct mountain 

 regions, separated from each other by plains, and extending respec- 

 tively over the north-west, the north-east, and the south-east parts of 

 the republic. The north-western parts are occupied by the Andes 

 and the mountains of the coast, which are connected with the Andes ; 

 the uorth-eaatern districts are mostly covered by the ranges of the 

 Sierra de Bergantin ; and the south-eastern region comprehends tho 

 western portion of the Sierra de Parima. According to the estimates 

 of Codazzi, the mountain regions occupy somewhat less than one- 

 fourth of the republic, or 96,000 square miles; whilst the plains 

 extend over about 312,000 square miles. 



The Mountain Region of the Andes and the Coatt-range (Sierra 

 Costanera). The Andes of Venezuela are the most northern portion 

 of the Eastern Andes of New Granada. [ANDES, vol. i. col. 357.] 

 Before the range leaves the territories of New Granada it divides, 

 south-west of the town of Pamplona, into two branches, one of which 

 runs north, with a small inclination to the east, whilst the other 

 extends to the north-east. The western of these two ranges, which 

 incloses the basin of the Lake of Maracaibo on the west, is called in 

 the south Sierra de Ocafin, in the middle Sierra de Perijit, and on the 

 peninsula of Goajira, where it terminates with Chichi tmcoa, it is 

 called Montes de Oca. This chain, from the sources of the Uio del-Oro 

 to its termination on the Caribbean Sea, constitutes the boucdary-line 

 between Venezuela and New Granada; but its southern portion is 

 entirely within New Granada. The highest summit of the Sierra de 

 PerijiS U said not to exceed 4200 feet above the sea-level. The whnlo 

 of the range is covered with thick woods, and no part of it is culti- 

 vated. It is only inhabited by the independent tribes of the Cucinas 

 and Qoajiras. 



