197 



after the province of Guipuscoa, and the king- 

 dom of Valencia*, reckon the greatest number 

 of inhabitants to the square league in all Spain ; 

 the maximum of America is, however, below the 

 relative population of the whole of France 

 (1778 to the square league), and would in the 

 latter country be considered as a very thin po- 

 pulation. If on the entire surface of America 

 we direct our views to the object which engages 

 our special attention in this chapter, the Capi- 

 tania-general of Venezuela, we find that the 

 most populous of these subdivisions, the pro- 

 vince of Caraccas, considered as a whole, with- 



has hitherto led me to doubt this. Tn order to examine the 

 question we must be able to compare the superficies of a cer- 

 tain number of bordering provinces with the registers of po- 

 pulation published by the congress of Washington. The re- 

 lative population of the States of New York, Pensylvania, 

 and Virginia, appear so small (240, 204, and 168, to the 

 square marine league) only because in distributing the popu- 

 lation uniformly over the whole extent of territory, we must 

 include the regions partly desert, possessed by each state on 

 the west of the Alleghanis, regions which have an influence 

 on the total average, nearly in the same manner as the Llanos 

 of Caraccas and Cumana. Egypt contains 11,000 square 

 leagues, of which only 1408 are inhabited. 



* We find in the kingdom of Valencia 18G0, and in the 

 Guipuscoa, 2009, to the square league ; but the latter pro- 

 vince, containing only 53 square leagues, should be excluded, 

 according to the principle which I have adopted in these re- 

 searches. Galicia has an actual population of 1,400,000, 

 and tbe kingdom of Valencia of 1,200,000. 



