RELATIVE POSITION. 345 



share in that prosperity, for the magnificent gulf of Paria is a vast 

 harbour common to both ; in fact, it is, or can easily be rendered, 

 the great sea-port of the rich and extensive basin of the Orinoco, 

 as may be ascertained by glancing at the map of Venezuela. 



The Andes form, southward of Popayan and about the second 

 degree of N. latitude, a trifurcation known by the name of the 

 Cordilleras of New Granada. The easternmost chain is the Cor- 

 dillera of Venezuela, which traverses that republic from S.S.W. 

 to E.N.E., from Almaguer to Cape Pena, or even Point Galera, 

 the north-eastern point of Trinidad. It runs, at first, N.N.E. 

 from San Miguel de Mocoa to Valencia, Pamplona, Merida, 

 Truxillo, Barquisimeto and Valencia, being left on the northern 

 or sea-coast side ; and San Juan de los Remedies, Casanare, and 

 Varinas, on the southern or Orinoco side of the chain. From 

 Valencia the Cordillera runs due E., and so close to the Oarribbean 

 Sea that its very base is washed by the surf; Maracaybo, Carracas, 

 Barcelona, and Cumana, being thereby separated by rugged 

 mountains and high table-lands from the basin of the Orinoco. 



That immense basin extends from the Cordillera, eastward, 

 to the mountains of Parima and the Atlantic ; and southward, 

 from the same Cordillera to Rio Negro. Besides a number of 

 less important streams, it is drained by the following large rivers : 

 viz., the Guarico, the Portuguesa, the Apure, the Arauca, the 

 Meta, the Vichada, and the Guaviare all coming down from the 

 Cordillera ; and, by the Ventuari, the Caura, and the Caroni, which 

 have their sources in the Parima system of mountains : all are 

 tributaries of the mighty river. 



This short description shows that the Cordillera of Venezuela 

 has been thrown up by nature, as an unsurmountable barrier to 

 commercial communication between the basin of the Orinoco and 

 the Caribbean Sea, so that, either Angostura or Port-of- Spain 

 must become the great emporium of Venezuela, and the Orinoco, 

 or the Gulf of Paria, the outlet of the interior basin. 



Angostura is a fine river-port, with deep water, but about 300 

 miles from the Atlantic : the temperature there is oppressive, though 

 the climate cannot be said to be unhealthy. The navigation against 

 the stream is, however, very tedious, principally during the over- 

 flow of the river, viz., from May to October, when the currents 

 are very strong ; whilst, all along its banks, the marsh effluvia are 

 very deleterious, and particularly so at the low-water season. 



