198 



out excepting the Llanos, has, as yet, only the 

 relative population of Tennesee \ and that this 

 province, without the Llanos, furnishes in the 

 northern part, on more than 1800 square 

 leagues, the relative population of South Caro- 

 lina. Those 1800 square leagues, the centre of 

 agriculture, are twice as well peopled as Fin- 

 land, but still a third less than the province of 

 Cuenca, the least populous of all Spain. We 

 cannot dwell on this result without a painful 

 feeling. Such is the state in which colonial 

 politics, and the folly of the public administra- 

 tion, have, during three centuries, left a country 

 of which the natural riches may vie with all 

 that is most wonderful on earth, that in order 

 to find one equally desert, we must look either 

 towards the frozen regions of the north, or to 

 the westward of the Alleghani mountains, to- 

 wards the forests of Tennesee, where the first 

 clearings have only begun within the last fifty 

 years ! 



The most cultivated part of the province of 

 Caraccas, the basin of the lake of Valencia, vul- 

 garly called los Valles de Aragua % counted, in 

 1810, nearly 2000 inhabitants to the square 

 league ; now, supposing a relative population 

 three times less, and taking off from the whole 

 surface of the Capitania-general nearly 24,000 



* These vallies do not contain 30 square leagues of sur- 

 face. See above, Vol. iv, p. 118.) 



