5 H POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Aguirre/ say the natives, who, after more than three hundred 

 years, are still haunted by the legends associated with this six- 

 teenth-century corsair. The vapors rising from certain asphalt 

 lakes similar to that of Trinidad are also said at times to be sub- 

 ject to spontaneous combustion." It might have been well if 

 there had been a few active volcanoes in the country during 

 recent times. Venezuela has suffered some terrible earthquakes, 

 and on the theory that these disturbances are due to pent-up 

 underground forces, the existence of natural vents would have 

 prevented them. In 1550 an earthquake occurred, accompanied 

 by a tidal wave, which swept away the settlement of Cumana", 

 and the same place suffered severely in 1766, after which the 

 ground continued to tremble for fifteen months. One of the most 

 destructive shocks, by which Caracas was laid in ruins with a 

 loss of twelve thousand lives, occurred in 1812, during the war 

 for independence. " The indirect consequences of this disaster," 

 says Reclus, " were even more deplorable than the catastrophe 

 itself. It certainly prolonged the ruinous war probably for years, 

 and greatly intensified its horrors. The event having taken place 

 on Holy Thursday, the anniversary of the declaration of inde- 

 pendence, the priests, nearly all of whom belonged to the Spanish 

 party, declared that the hand of God had wrought the ruin in 

 order to crush the revolution." Thousands of superstitious revo- 

 lutionists, including Miranda, the general in chief, laid down their 

 arms, and the Spaniards secured fortified places and other advan- 

 tages that were recovered only at great cost. 



In a country so much upheaved a variety of minerals will 

 naturally be found accessible. There are rich deposits of gold in 

 the region east of the Orinoco bordering on British Guiana, which 

 accounts for the ownership of part of that territory having been in 

 dispute for half a century. The famous mine El Callao has yielded 

 over three million dollars a year. Its upper levels have been pretty 

 well worked out, so that its present output is secured by deep min- 

 ing operations. As an export, gold ranks next after coffee and 

 cacao. Considerable copper ore is exported, mainly the product 

 of the Aroa mines in the Maritime Alps, near the northern coast. 

 Lead and tin are also found. If Venezuela owned all the islands 

 that lie off its coast it would have an important source of mineral 

 wealth in the famous asphalt lake, La Brea, on Trinidad. But 

 Trinidad and Tobago had been taken from Spain by Great Britain, 

 while Curagoa, Buen Aire, and Oruba had been appropriated by 

 the Dutch, before Venezuela secured its independence. The main- 

 land, however, is by no means devoid of bituminous deposits as- 

 phalt, petroleum, jet, and bituminous coal being obtained in vari- 

 ous localities. Other useful minerals found are sulphur, kaolin, 

 and phosphate rock. Margarita, the largest of the islands belong- 



