422 



disfigure their maps, by tracing the different 

 parts of the Spanish and Portugueze colonies, 

 as if they were contiguous at every point in the 

 interior. The local knowledge which I myself 

 obtained, respecting these boundaries, furnishes 

 me with the means of fixing the extent of the 

 great territorial divisions with some certainty, 

 of comparing the wild and inhabited parts, and 

 of appreciating the greater or less political in- 

 fluence exerted by certain towns of America, 

 as centres of power and of commerce. 



Caraccas is the capital of a country, which 

 is nearly twice as large as Peru at present, and 

 which yields little in extent to the kingdom 

 of New Grenada*. This country, which the 

 Spanish government designates by the name of 

 Capitania General de Caraccas or of the (uni- 



* The Capitania General of Caraccas contains near 48,000 

 square leagues (twenty-five to a degree) ; Peru since la Paz, 

 Potosi, Charcas, and Santa Cruz de la Sierra, have been 

 separated from it, and joined to the viceroyalty of Buenos 

 Ay res, only 30,000. New Grenada, including the province 

 of Quito, (55,000. These calculations have been made by 

 Mr, Oltmanns, from the alterations that my astronomical 

 observations have introduced into the maps of Spanish Ame- 

 rica. I prefer here valuations in round numbers ; the par- 

 ticular discussions on the magnitude of the various countries, 

 their respective population, and other facts purely statistical, 

 will be placed in particular chapters, as we quit each great 

 territorial division. 



f The captain geueral of Caraccas has the title of Capitan 

 General de las Provincias de Venezuela y Ciudad de Caraccas. 



