120 NUEYA BAKCELOXi. 



beach ; and, though our boat carried a large sail, we did net 

 arrive at Maniquarez before night. 



"We prolonged our stay at Cumana only a fortnight. 

 Having lost all hope of the arrival of a packet from Corunna, 

 we availed ourselves of an American vessel, laden at Nueva 

 Barcelona with salt provision for the island of Cuba. We had 

 now passed sixteen months on this coast, and in the interior 

 of Venezuela, and on the 16th November we parted from our 

 friends at Cumana to make the passage for the third time 

 across the gulf of Cariaco to Nueva Barcelona. The night 

 was cool and delicious. It was not without emotion that we 

 beheld for the last time the disc of the moon illuminating 

 the summit of the cocoa-trees that surround the banks of 

 the Manzanares. The breeze was strong, and in less than 

 six hours we anchored near the Morro of Nueva Barcelona, 

 where the vessel which was to take us to the liavannah was 

 ready to sail. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



Political state of the Provinces of Venezuela. Extent of Territory. 

 Population. Natural Productions. External Trade. Communi- 

 cations between the different Provinces comprising the Republic of 

 Columbia. 



BEFOBE I quit the coasts of Terra Firm a, and draw the 

 attention of the reader to the political importance of Cuba, 

 the largest of the West India Islands, 1 will collect into 

 one point of view all those facts which may lead to a just 

 appreciation of the future relations of commercial Europe 

 with the united Provinces of Venezuela. When, soon after 

 my return to Germany, I published the " Essai Politique sur 

 la Nouvelle-Espagne," I at the same time made known some 

 of the facts I had collected in relation to the territorial riches 

 of South America. This comparative view of the popula- 

 tion, agriculture, and commerce of all the Spanish colonies 

 was formed at a period when the progress of civilization was 

 restrained by the imperfection of social institutions, the pro- 

 hibitory system, and other fatal errors in the science oi 

 government. Since the time when I developed the im 



