TIERRA FIRMA. 17 



■and unpalatable, becaufe they cannot fatten upon account of the exceffive 

 heats. Poultry, pigeons, partridges and geefe are very good, and in great 

 plenty. There is alfo plenty of deer, rabbits, and wild boars called fajones. 

 The tigers make great havock among the animals. Here are foxes, arma- 

 dillos, lizards,,. ardillas, fquirrels, and an innumerable variety of monkeys. 

 The bat is very remarkable ; for the people being obliged, on account of 

 the heat, to leave their vv^indows open all night, the bats get in at them, 

 and open the veins of any part of the body they find naked, fo that the blood 

 flows from the orifice in fuch quantities, that their fleep often proveth their 

 palTage to eternity. Snakes, vipers, centipes, and all other poifonous rep- 

 tiles are here as common as in other parts. Barley, wheat, and other ef- 

 culent grains of EuropCt are little knownj maize and rice, of which they 

 make their bolla, or bread, abound even to exceft. The beft fort of bolla is 

 kneaded with milk. Among the negroes the caflava bread is mod: common; 

 it is made of the roots of yuca, yams, and moniatos, the upper fkin of 

 which they ftrip ofi, grate the infide into water. There is great plenty 

 of camotes, in t'ile Vx^ti ]!^Iiilaga potatoes, ufed both as pickles, and roots 

 with meat. Plantations of fugar canes abound, fo as greatly to lower the 

 price of honey, and a great part of the juice of thefe canes is diftilled into 

 fpirits : they grow fo quick as to be cut twice a year. Great numbers of 

 cotton trees grow here, thofe which are planted and cultivated are reckoned 

 the beft j the cotton of both is fpun, and made into feveral forts of ftuffs for 

 the negroes. 



The cacao trees, from which chocolate is made, excel here, and the cho- 

 colate is more efteemed than that of other countries; efpecially the chocolate 

 of the Magdalenay which is highly valued, and by v/ay of diftinAion, in 

 preference to that of the Caracas, is fold by millares,— The cacao nuts of 

 which chocolate is made, are fold by the fanega of 1 1 5 pounds, or in fome 

 places 110, except that of Maracaibo, which weighs only 96 pounds. 

 Chocolate is allowed to have thefe four good qualities : firfir, it is very 

 cooling; fecondly. very nourifliing, and of eafy digeftion ; thirdly, very 

 proper to repair the exhaufted fpirits and decayed ftrength ; and laftly, very 

 proper to prcferve the health, and prolong the lives of old men. This is 



D the 



