113 



great importance there. The most temperate 

 valleys are not sufficiently wide ; they are not 

 real table-lands 5 and their mean elevation 

 above the level of the sea is not considerable 

 enough, for the inhabitants to avoid perceiving, 

 that it is more their interest to establish planta- 

 tions of coffee, than to cultivate corn. Flour 

 now comes to Caraccas either from Spain, or 

 from the United States. When, in circum- 

 stances more favourable to industry and public 

 tranquillity, the road from Santa Fe de Bogota 

 to the port of Pachaquiaro is laid open, the in- 

 habitants of Venezuela will receive the flour of 

 New Grenada by way of the Rio Meta and the 

 Oroonoko. 



The village of Turmero is four leagues distant 

 from San Matheo. The road leads through 

 plantations of sugar, indigo, cotton, and coffee. 

 The regularity, which we observed in the con- 

 struction of the villages, reminded us, that they 

 all owe their origin to monks and missions. 

 The streets are straight and parallel ; they cross 

 each other at right angles ; and the church is 

 erected in the great square, situate in the centre. 

 The church of Turmero is a sumptuous edifice, 

 but overloaded with architectural ornaments. 

 Since the missionaries have been replaced by 

 vicars, the Whites have mixed their habitations 

 with the Indians. The latter gradually dis- 

 appear as a separate race ; that is to say, they 



VOL. IV. 1 



