428 



If we examine the state of the Capitania- 

 General of Caraccas, according to the principles 

 we have J aid down, we perceive that it's agri- 

 cultural industry, it's great mass of population, 

 it's numerous towns, and whatever is connect- 

 ed with an advanced civilization, are found 

 near the coast. This coast extends farther than 

 two hundred leagues. It is bathed by the Little 

 Caribbean Sea, a sort of mediterranean, on the 

 shores of which almost all the nations of Europe 

 have founded colonies ; which communicates at 

 several points with the Atlantic Ocean ; and 

 the existence of which has had a considerable 

 influence on the progress of knowledge in the 

 eastern part of Equinoctial America, from the 

 time of the Conquest. The kingdoms of New 

 Grenada and Mexico have no connection with 

 foreign colonies, and through them with that 

 part of Europe which is not Spanish, except by 

 the ports of Carthagena and of Santa Martha, 

 of Vera Cruz and of Campeachy. These vast 

 countries, from the nature of their coasts, and 

 the remoteness of their population on the back 

 of the Cordilleras, present few points of contact 

 with foreign lands. The Gulph of Mexico is 

 even less frequented during a part of the year, 

 on account of the danger of gales of wind from 

 the north. The coasts of Venezuela, on the 

 contrary, from their extent, their stretching 

 toward the east, the number of their ports, and 



