TROPICAL REGIONS 109 



over the annual dry season ; forests still occupy much of the ground ; 

 animal diseases are common, and no steps are taken to check or 

 extinguish them ; means of communication in roads and railways 

 are almost entirely wanting ; and the people are unenterprising 

 and lack the instinct for careful, scientific methods in animal 

 husbandry. There is some possibility, however, owing to the poli- 

 tical and commercial influence of the United States, combined 

 with the threatened meat shortage in North America, that American 

 capital will be found to develop these states, and perhaps also 

 to take up cattle-raising and meat export on a large scale. The 

 climate does not seem to be favourable to sheep, and pigs, though 

 kept, are much neglected. In the matter of cattle there seems to 

 be a distinct probability that a comparatively small, though in- 

 creasing, supply of lower-grade animals will be available for export, 

 either as live or as refrigerated meat, from the Central American 

 States, within the next decade or two. 



COLUMBIA AND VENEZUELA. 



These two countries, though both lying for the greater part 

 within 10 degrees of the Equator, are said by various authorities 

 to be suitable for sheep, and especially for cattle rearing on a large 

 scale. In both of them the well-watered highland valleys and the 

 " llanos " sloping towards the Caribbean and the Atlantic are 

 covered with natural grasses, suitable for stock, but apt to become 

 withered in the dry season, especially in the valley of the Orinoco. 1 

 The rainfall is, in general, heavy, but is badly distributed through- 

 out the year. Hitherto, however, little serious attention has been 

 given to stock-rearing in the countries, which contain a mere 

 handful of animals compared with their carrying capacity. In 

 Venezuela the numbers of cattle were, it is said, reduced from 

 8J millions in 1885 to 2 millions in 1898, owing mainly to civil 

 wars. 2 Some exports of beef have been made from Porto Cabello 

 in Venezuela, but the quality has apparently been inferior. 3 Many 

 of the existing much-reduced herds are said to be in a half-wild 

 state. Nevertheless both countries are held to have considerable 

 future possibilities in stock-rearing for a meat export trade. 4 



1 International Agricultural Institute, Bulletin of Social and Economic 

 Intelligence, Aug., 1915, p. 124 (in Columbia) " there is a considerable area 

 of land suited to stock-breeding, situated along the valleys of the great rivers, 

 the slopes of the tablelands and the vast south-eastern plain." 



2 L. V. Dalton, " Venezuela," 1912, p. 247. 



8 The exports of meat from Venezuela have ceased for the present, but some 

 live cattle are exported. 



" Cattle-breeding should be a great and important industry for Venezuela, 

 and it is to be hoped that it will be put on a better footing before long." 

 L. V. Dalton, " Venezuela," 1912, p. 197. 



Again, " There is therefore good reason for the belief that Columbia will 

 soon be the field of large and extensive development along this line " (of 

 cattle-rearing) .U.S. Daily Commerce Report, May 6th, 1914, p. 696. 



In Columbia " this (the cattle-rearing) industry is likely to gain ground 

 from day to day, thanks to scientific selection of breeding stock and the more 



