54 
VENEZUELA : 
take any of the English, French, or German steamers, and they 
are usually leaving La Guayra as often as twice a week to Port- 
of-Spain, on the British island of Trinidad. At least once a week, 
and generally twice, a steamer leaves Port-of-Spain for the upper 
Orinoco. The time required to make the journey depends upon 
the season of the year and the condition of the river. If Amu are 
going during the rainy season — that is, from the first of IMay tO' 
the first of November — you can reach Ciudad Bolivar in three 
days ; hut during the dry season, when the river is low, naviga- 
tion is slow and difficult because of snags, bars, and other ob- 
structions. At Ciudad Bolivar the traveler shifts his baggage to- 
a smaller craft, similar to those that ply the Ohio, Tennessee, 
and other streams of the United States, and starts onward for the 
head of navigation, A\dierever that may he. 
It is possil)le to go within two days’ journey on mule-back of 
Bogota, the capital of Colombia, by taking the Meta, one of the 
chief affluents of the Orinoco, and by passing southward through 
the Cassiquiare the Amazon can be reached. Few people are 
aware that a boat entering the mouth of the Orinoco can emerge 
again into the sea through the Amazon Avithout leaving the Avater. 
This passage is not naA'igahle for large steamers because of rapids- 
and obstructions, I)ut it might he made clear at an expense that 
Avould be very slight in comparison Avith the advantages gained.. 
Another branch goes nearly to Quito, the capital of Ecuador,, 
and in fact its affluents are so numerous and so large that in all 
the five hundred thousand square miles of territory drained by 
the Orinoco there is scarcely a point more than three or four 
days’ journey l)y mule from navigable Avaters, and there are said 
to l>e four hundred and thirty navigable branches of the river. 
From the Atlantic to the Andes, from the chain of the Cordil- 
leras that hugs tire coast of the Caribbean to the legend-haunted 
Sierra de la Parima, there is an area as large as the valley of the 
INIississippi, and similar in its configuration, capable of producing 
mighty crops of nearly CAmrything the Avorld feeds on, and afford- 
ing grazing ground for millions upon millions of cattle. From 
the foothills of the mountains in Avhich the sources of the river 
are, tAvo thousand miles to the sea, are great plains or llanos, like 
those of loAAai and Illinois, almost entirely destitute of timber, 
exce])t along the courses of the rivers, Avhere A^aluable trees are 
found. 
The scenery for the greater part of the voyage is interesting,, 
but as you reach the upjAer Avaters and enter the foothills of the 
