206 



trary, the lower limit of wheat descends, in the most unex- 

 pected manner, towards the burning plains of the coast. 

 Hitherto the production of the cerealia at Venezuela has been 

 of small importance; it does not amount at Barquesimeto and 

 Victoria to more than 12,000 quintals a year ; and as the 

 same places, being but little elevated, are also fit for the cul- 

 ture of the sugar-cane, of coffee, and cotton, that of wheat 

 has not been able to obtain any considerable increase. 



It is not the province of Caraccas alone that, in Venezuela, 

 contains regions of temperate climates } that is, countries where 

 the centigrade thermometer falls at night below 16° or 14°, 

 and even to 12* 5°. The province of Cumuna has also its 

 mountainous districts, which, though little visited hitherto, 

 may yet become important for some new branches of equi* 

 noctial agriculture. Having passed through a great part of 

 Venezuela with the barometer in my hand, I think it proper 

 to state here succinctly the countries that merit the name of 

 tierras templadas *, many of which, well-fitted for the pro- 

 duction of cerealia } are too cold for the culture of coffee. This 

 enumeration having merely an agricultural view, we shall 

 mark only the high vallies or table-lands of a considerable 

 extent. The Paramo of Mucuchies, which belongs to the 

 Sierra nevada of Merida, the Silla of Caraccas, in the Cordil- 

 leras of the shore, and the Duida, in the missions of the 

 Upper Oroonoko, are 2100, 1340, and 1280 toises high, but 



researches on the temperature required for cultivated plants, 

 in my work on Distributions geog. plant. 1817, p. 161. 



* I should here mention that in adopting the somewhat 

 vague denominations ottierras 3 calientes } templadas, and frias, 

 I fix the first between the coast and the elevation of 300 

 toises; the second, between 300 and 1100 toises $ and the 

 third, between 1100 and 2460 toises. The last number, 

 that of the limit of perpetual snows, indicates, in the equinoc- 

 tial region, the cessation of vegetable life. 



