384- ■ STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE 



Nor is there perhaps so much difference, as is commonly 

 imagined, between the actual progress of settlement, of culti- 

 vation, and of populousness, on the banks of the two rivers. 

 The Plata is best known in Europe ; because Buenos Ayres 

 figured in the red book, was the seat of a titled governor, and 

 offered the hope of a large spoil of patronage to the courtiers. 

 Besides, the vast silver tribute of Peru was often sent home 

 through that channel. But the Spaniards not having created 

 a privileged harbour within the Orinoko, the produce of the 

 bordering provinces has habitually been carried for shipment 

 to Trinidad, Goayre, or the Havanna. It has made no noise 

 in the tariffs of the custom-house. A recent traveller estimates 

 at 1 14,000 the settled colonial population of New Cumana and 

 and Spanish Guyana. The produce raised by such a num- 

 ber of employed individuals cannot be inconsiderable, or un- 

 important ; particularly as it embraces some articles, such as 

 chocolate, sarsaparllla, bark, and various dying-stuffs, in addi- 

 tion to tobacco, coffee, cotton, and sugar, so generally grown 

 in these districts for exportation. To be sure the surplus pro- 

 duce of a colony of Creoles of Spanish descent is by no means 

 as great as the surplus produce of an equally populous colony 

 under English guidance and management. For the Spaniards 

 have progressively accommodated their habits so entirely to 

 the country, the climate, and the gifts of the soil, that they 

 consume, at home, a larger proportion of what they grow, 

 and import from Europe a smaller proportion of what they 



