FTTMBERS OF THE WILD CATTLE. 109 



bottom of an inland sea, we may conceive that thousands of 

 years have not sufficed for the trees and shrubs to advance 

 from the borders of the forests, from the skirts of the plains 

 either naked or covered with turf, toward the centre, and 

 darken so vast a space with their shade. It is more difficult to 

 explain the origin of bare savannahs, encircled by forests, 

 than to recognize the causes that maintain forests and savan- 

 nahs within their ancient limits, like continents and seas. 



We found the most cordial hospitality at Calabozo, in the 

 house of the superintendent of the royal plantations, Don 

 Miguel Cousin. The town, situated between the banks of 

 the Guarico and the Uritucu, contained at this period only 

 five thousand inhabitants; but everything denoted increasing 

 prosperity. The wealth of most of the inhabitants consists 

 in herds, under the management of farmers, who are called 

 hater os, from the word hato, which signifies in Spanish a 

 house or farm placed in the midst of pastures. The scat- 

 tered population of the Llanos being accumulated on certain 

 points, principally around towns, Calabozo reckons already 

 five villages or missions in its environs. It is computed, 

 that 98,000 head of cattle wander in the pastures nearest 

 to the town. It is very difficult to form an exact idea 

 of the herds contained in the Llanos of Caracas, Barce- 

 lona, Cumana, and Spanish Guiana. M. Depons, who lived 

 in the town of Caracas longer than I, and whose statis- 

 tical statements are generally accurate, reckons in those 

 Vhst plains, from the mouths of the Orinoco to the lake of 

 Maracaybo, 1,200,000 oxen, 180,000 horses, and 90,000 

 mules. He estimates the produce of these herds at 5,000,000 

 francs ; adding to the value of the exportation the price of 

 the hides consumed in the country. There exist, it is 

 believed, in the Pampas of Buenos Ayres, 12,000,000 cows, 

 and 3,000,000 horses, without comprising in this enume- 

 meration the cattle that have no acknowledged proprietor. 



1 shall not hazard any general estimates, which from their 

 nature are too uncertain; but shall only observe that, in 

 the Llanos of Caracas, the proprietors of the great hatos are 

 entirely ignorant of the number of the cattle they possess. 

 They only know that of the young cattle, which are branded 

 every year with a letter or mark peculiar to each herd. The 

 richest proprietors mark as many as 14,000 head every 



