26 CARACCAS. 



boxes, so that when it happens to rain, 

 which is seldom the case in this country, 

 those in the pit are drenched. Nothing can 

 be more monotonous and contemptible than 

 the acting of their players ; yet this wretched 

 performance is frequented by the inhabitants 

 of all classes, even by the priests and monks, 

 who go there in their religious habits. 



The population of the town of Caraccas 

 was forty-seven thousand two hundred and 

 twenty-eight persons of all colours, in 1807: 

 it amounted to fifty thousand souls in 1810; 

 three hundred and forty-six thousand seven 

 hundred and seventy-two persons of all co- 

 lours then composed the population of the 

 other towns and the province of Caraccas, 

 properly speaking, which makes a total of 

 396,772 inhabitants. 



I ought here to rectify an error of 

 almost all geographers in the political divi- 



