62 



and these are all whites. The hope of gain sel- 

 dom stimulates the natives of the Chayma race 

 to engage in this culture, and the administra- 

 tion does not deem it prudent, to furnish them 

 with advances. 



In studying the history of our cultivated plants, 

 we are surprised to see, that before the conquest 

 the use of tobacco was spread through the greater 

 part of America, while the potatoe was unknown 

 both in Mexico and the West India Islands, 

 where it grows well in the mountainous regions. 

 Tobacco has also been cultivated in Portugal 

 every since the year 1559, though the potatoe did 

 not become an object of European agriculture 

 till the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th 

 century. This latter plant, which has had such 

 a powerful influence on the well-being of society, 

 has spread in both continents with more slowness, 

 than a production which can be considered only 

 as a simple article of luxury. 



Next to tobacco, the most important culture 

 of the valley of Cumanacoa is that of indigo. 

 The indigo manufacturers of Cumanacoa, of 

 San Fernando, and of Arenas, produce indigo 

 of greater commercial value than that of Ca- 

 raccas ; and which often nearly equals in splen- 

 dor and richness of colour the indigo of Guati- 

 mala. It was from this province, that the coasts 

 of Cumana received the first seeds of the indi- 



