VENEZUELA. 637 



VENEZUELA. 



CATTLE INTERESTS IN VENEZUELA. 



REPORT BY CONSUL EIRD, OF LA QUAYRA. 



Certain specific inquiries with reference to cattle in Venezuela having 

 been made by the Department of State through a circular letter lately 

 received at this consulate, the following report is respectfully submitted. 

 It will be observed that, owing to the difficulty of procuring intelligent 

 and accurate information, the subject has been treated in a general 

 manner, but it is hoped that the salient points have been so far recog- 

 nized, that at least something more than a vague idea of this industry 

 may be communicated, and that some of the matter herein presented 

 may not be devoid of a certain degree of interest to those engaged in 

 similar enterprises in the United States. 



As the channels of trade and intercourse with the great pampas of the 

 interior of Venezuela are inadequate to the maintenance of extensive inter- 

 State commerce and for the transportation to the seaboard at reasonable 

 rates of agricultural produce ; and as, in such a sparsely populated coun- 

 try, thus deprived of facilities for transportation and communication, the 

 idea of anything like the existence of a home market is naturally pre- 

 cluded, so the attention and interest of the people has been directed to 

 that branch cf industry that, with comparatively little care or manual 

 labor, will yield the surest and most remunerative returns, and that, 

 when ready for the market, itself furnishes the means for its own inex- 

 pensive transportation. 



The Eepublic of Venezuela has an area of territory of 439,119 square 

 miles, a fraction larger than the States of Louisiana and Texas and the 

 Territory of New Mexico combined ; and a population of 2,075,245, not 

 quite as large as that of the State of Missouri. In the interior of the 

 country are vast plains of Government lands practically illimitable, 

 isolated, and uninhabited, though well-watered, salubrious, and fertile, 

 and especially adapted to the raising of cattle. 



According to recent stastitics there are 220,000 people engaged in this 

 particular enterprise, though the number of cattle cannot be given with 

 any degree of accuracy. Through the devastating internal revolutions 

 from which the country suffered up to the year 1874, the large and 

 flourishing herds of the plains, exposed to the constant and ruthless dep- 

 redations of all the hostile armies, were practically decimated. They 

 spared not and paid not ; and hence not only were the flocks and herd's 

 destroyed, but the rich proprietors were generally reduced to penury 

 and many even to a state of actual want. But under the unbroken 

 peace that has subsisted for the past ten years, and the careful and un- 

 remitting efforts of the despoiled Llaneros to repair their severe losses, 

 the revival of the industry is assured and the prosperity of the stock 

 raisers reasonably restored. 



From all available information and personal observation it may be 

 stated that there is only one class of cattle in Venezuela; for, although 

 there have been, from time to time, some experimental efforts to cross 

 the breed by admixture with American and other stock, it is virtually 

 unchanged. It may be called the Spanish- American breed, since it has 



