197 



sugar-cane of Otaheite. The population has 

 greatly increased at Carupano, in the beautiful 

 valley of Rio Caripe, at Guira, and at the new 

 town of Punta di Piedra, built opposite Spa- 

 nish Harbour, in the island of Trinidad. The 

 soil is so fertile in the Golfo Triste, that the 

 maize yields two harvests in the year, and pro- 

 duces three hundred and eighty times the quan- 

 tity sown*. The isolated situation of the settle- 

 ments has favored the trade with foreign colo- 

 nies ; and from the year 1797 a revolution has 

 taken place in the ideas of the people, the conse- 

 quences of which would have been long in prov- 

 ing fatal to the metropolis, if the ministry had 

 not continued to thwart all their interests, and 

 oppose all their wishes. There is a period in 

 the contentions with colonies, as in almost all 

 popular commotions, when governments, if they 

 be not blind respecting the course of human 

 affairs, may, by a wise and provident modera- 

 tion, reestablish the equilibrium, and avert the 

 storm. If they fail to seize this period, if they 

 fancy they can oppose a moral tendency by 

 physical force, events unfold themselves irresis- 

 tibly, and the separation of the colonies is ef- 

 fected by a violence, that is but so much the 

 more fatal, if the mother-country have succeed- 

 ed during the struggle, in reestablishing for a 



* One almuda produces in the Golfo Triste, 32 fanegas . 

 at Cariaco, 25. 



