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ceed each other in Venezuela from the north to 

 the south along the coast towards the equator. 

 Advancing in this direction, we may be said to 

 traverse, in point of space, the different stations 

 by which the human race has passed in the 

 lapse of ages, in its progress towards cultiva- 

 tion, and in laying the foundations of civil 

 society. The region of the shore is the centre 

 of agricultural industry ; the region of the 

 Llanos serves only for the pasturage of the ani- 

 mals which Europe has given to America, and 

 which live there in a half-savage state. Each of 

 those regions contains from seven to eight thou- 

 sand square leagues ; further south, between 

 the delta of the Oroonoko, the Cassiquiare, and 

 the Rio Negro, lies a vast extent of land as 

 large as France, inhabited by hunting nations., 

 horrida sylvis, paludihus fceda. The produc- 

 tions of the vegetable kingdom which we have 

 just enumerated belong to the zones at each 

 extremity; the intermediary savannahs into 

 which oxen, horses, and mules have been 

 brought, since the year 1548, feed some mil- 

 lions of those animals. At the period of my 

 travels, the annual exportation of Venezuela to 

 the West India islands amounted to 30,000 

 mules, 174,000 ox hides, and 140,000 arrobes 

 (of 25 pounds) of tasajo * or dried meat a little 



* The meat on the back is cut in slices of moderate thick- 

 ness. An ox or cow, of the weight of 25 arrobes, produces 



