56 CULTIVATION OF COTTOK. 



the trinks of bamboos, supply ladders, and facilitate in a 

 thousard ways the construction of a hut, and the fabrication 

 of chairs, beds, and other articles of furniture that compose 

 the wealth of a savage household. In the midst of this 

 lavish vegetation, so varied in its productions, it requires 

 very powerful motives to excite man to labour, to rouse him 

 from his lethargy, and to unfold his intellectual faculties. 



Cacao and cotton are cultivated at Barbula. We there 

 found, what is very rare in that country, two large cylin- 

 drical machines for separating the cotton from its seed; 

 one put in motion by an hydraulic wheel, and the other by 

 & wheel turned by mules. The overseer of the farm, who 

 had constructed these machines, was a native of Merida. 

 He was acquainted with the road that leads from Nueva 

 Valencia, by the way of Gruanare and Misagual, to Varinas ; 

 and thence by the ravine of Collejones, to the Paramo de 

 Mucuchies and the mountains of Merida covered with eternal 

 snows. The notions he gave us of the time requisite for 

 going from Valencia by Varinas to the Sierra Nevada, and 

 thence by the port of Torunos, and the Bio Santo Domingo, 

 to San Fernando de Apure, were of infinite value to us. It 

 can scarcely be imagined in Europe, how difficult it is to 

 obtain accurate information in a country where the commu- 

 nications are so rare ; and where distances are diminished or 

 exaggerated according to the desire that may be felt to encou- 

 rage the traveller, or to deter him from his purpose. 1 had 

 resolved to visit the eastern extremity of the Cordilleras of 

 New Grenada, where they lose themselves in the paramos 

 of Timotes and Niquitao. I learned at Barbula, that this 

 excursion would retard our arrival at the Orinoco thirty-five 

 days. This delay appeared to us so much the longer, as the 

 rains were expected to begin sooner than usual. We had 

 the hope of examining afterwards a great number of moun- 

 tains covered with perpetual snow, at Quito, Peru, and 

 Mexico ; and it appeared to me still more prudent to relin- 

 quish our project of visiting the mountains of Merida, since 

 by so doing we might miss the real object of our journey, 

 that of ascertaining by astronomical observations the point 

 of communication between the Orinoco, the Rio Negro, 

 ind the river Amazon. We returned in consequence from 

 Barbula to GKiacara, to take leave of the family of the 



