124 



SOUTH AMERICA— THE ANDES REGIONS. 



del Medio (" Middle Rock "), which serves as a natural fluviometer, to measure the 

 periodical rise and fall of the flood waters. On the left bank stands the growing 

 suburb of Soledad, future terminus of the projected Caracas- Bolivar railway, and 

 already the centre of a brisk trade, carried on especially with Calabozo and Varinas. 

 One of the chief local industries is the manufacture of cigars, mostly in the hands 

 of Germans. 



Sailing-vessels have been almost entirely replaced by steamers which ascend 

 the Orinoco with the tides as far as the narrows at Bolivar. The movement of 

 exchanges is mainly with Port of Spain in Trinidad, which may be regarded as the 



Fig. 45. — Aborigines of Venezuela. 

 Scale 1 : 1,600,000. 



West or areenvuith 



250 Miles. 



seaport of Bolivar, the chief intermediate station being Barrancas {San Rafael), 

 at the head of the Orinoco delta. 



The local traffic has much increased since 1840, when Plussard discovered the 

 auriferous quartz reefs in the valley of the Yuruauri, a tributary of the Cuyuni 

 affluent of the Essequibo. These mines, which are approached either from Puerto 

 Tablas at the Caroni confluence, or from the populous town of Upata, or else from 

 Guayana Yieja, are dotted over numerous depressions on the southern slope of the 

 Sierra Piacoa. The Caratal group at El Callao yielded over £800,000 annually 

 during the years 1884-6, and the total output from 1866-89 was valued at 

 £8,300,000. But since that time the yield has considerably fallen off. 



