CONSUMPTION OP CACAO. 159 



23,000,000 pounds of cacao, at 120 fr. per 100 lbs. = 27,<iOO,OOOrr. CHAP XIV. 



32,000,000 pounds of tea, at 4 fr. per lb = 12«,000.000 



140,000,000 pounds of coffee, at 1 14 fr. per 100 lbs. = l,')!*,f 100,0(10 Consumption 

 450,000,000 pound-; of sut,rar, at 54 fr. per 100 lbs. =24^,000,000 °' <^'''""- 

 Total value, £23,250,000 sterlin;,', or 558,200,000 fr. 



The late wars ha\e had a very injurious effect on the 

 cacao-trade of Caraccas ; and the cultivation of this 

 article seems to be gradually declining. It is asserted 

 that the new plantations are not so productive as the old, 

 the trees not acquiring the same vigour, and the harvest 

 being later and less abundant. This is supposed to be 

 owing to exhaustion of the land ; but Humboldt attri- 

 butes it rather to the diminution of moisture caused by ' 

 cropping.* 



In concluding his remarks on the province of Vene- ggij ^f 

 zuela, our author gives a general view of the soil and metallic 

 metallic productions of the districts of Aroa, Barquesi- ^"^ 

 meto, and Carora. From the Sierra Nevada of Merida, 

 and the Paramos of Niquitao, Bocono, and Las Rosas, 

 the eastern cordillera of New Grenada decreases so 

 rapidly in height, that between the ninth and tenth 

 degrees of latitude it forms only a chain of hills, which 

 separate the rivers that join the Apure and the Orinoco 

 from those that flow into the Caribbean Sea or the Lake 

 of Maracaybo. On this ridge are built the towns of 

 Nirgua, San Felipe, Barquesimeto, and Tocuyo. The 

 ground rises toward the south. 



In the cordillera just described, the strata usually dip pjp of strata, 

 to the N.W. ; so that the waters flow in that direction 

 over the ledges, forming those numerous torrents and 

 rivers, the inundations caused by which are so fatal to 



* Accordinji^ to IMacculloch, the little use made of this excellent 

 beverai^e in Enjjland may be ascribed to tlie oppressiveness of the 

 duties with w liich it has been loaded, and not to its beinj^ unsuitable 

 to the public taste. " In 1B32 the duties on cacao from a British 

 plantation were reduced from o6s. to lOs. 8d. a-c\vt. Foreig^n ca« 

 cao is still subject to the oppressive dutj' of 5()s. a-cwt. Briti-h 

 cacao is worth, at present (Auj^ust 1833), from 64s. to 743. aj-cwt. 

 in b lud." — MaccullocWs Dictionary of Commerce, art. Cacao 

 (2d Edition). 



