65 



contained nearly eighty negroes ; they were 

 lying on skins of oxen spread upon the ground. 

 In each apartment of the house were four slaves ; 

 it looked like a barrack. A dozen fires were 

 burning in the farm-yard, where people were 

 employed in dressing victuals. We were again 

 struck with the noisy mirth of the blacks, which 

 almost prevented us from sleeping. The clouds 

 hindered me from observing the stars ; the 

 Moon appeared only at intervals. The aspect 

 of the landscape was dull and uniform, and all 

 the surrounding hills were covered with aloes. 

 Workmen were employed at a small canal, 

 which was intended to convey the waters of the 

 Rio San Pedro to the farm, at a height of more 

 than seventy feet. According to a barometric 

 calculation, the site of the hacienda is only fifty 

 toises above the bed of the Rio Guayra at La 

 Noria, near Caraccas. 



The soil of these countries has been found but 

 little favourable to the cultivation of the coffee- 

 tree, which in general is less productive in the 

 valley of Caraccas, than was imagined when 

 the first plantations were made near Chacao, In 

 order to form a general idea of the importance 

 of this branch of commerce, we must remember, 

 that the produce of the whole province of Ca- 

 raccas in it's greatest prosperity, before the 

 revolutionary wars of 1812, amounted to fifty 

 or sixty thousand quintals of coffee. This quan- 



VOL. IV. P 



