201 



Santa-Fe, Popayan, Quito, and Loxa, produce 

 the finest qualities hitherto known of this medi- 

 cinal bark. I might swell the list of these va- 

 luable productions by the coffee and indigo of 

 Caraccas, so long esteemed in commerce ; the 

 sugar, cotton, and flour of Bogota ; the ipeca- 

 cuanha of the banks of the Madelaine ; the to- 

 bacco of Varinas, the Cortex Angosturce of 

 Carony ; the balsam of the plains of Tolu ; the 

 skins and dried provisions of the Llanos ; the 

 pearls of Panama, Rio Hacha, and the Margue- 

 rita ; and finally, the gold of Popayan, and the 

 platina, which is no where found in abundance 

 but at Choco and Barbacoas: but, in confor- 

 mity to the plan I have adopted, I shall confine 

 myself to the ancient Capitania-general of Ca- 

 raccas. In the preceding chapters I have treated 

 of each particular production ; it therefore only 

 remains to mention succinctly the statistical 

 statements connected with that peaceful period 

 which immediately preceded the political agita- 

 tions of this country. 



Cacao. Total production, 193,000 fanegas of 110 Spanish 

 pounds, of which Venezuela exported (inclusive of the con- 

 traband trade) 145,000 fanegas. Total value, more than five 

 millions of piastres. Number of trees in 1814, nearly 16 

 millions. This part of Terra Firma has hitherto derived its 

 greatest celebrity from cacao : the cultivation of it dimi- 

 nishes in proportion as that of coffee, cotton, and sugar in- 

 creases j it advances progressively from west to east, Ca- 



