234 



hewing the wood, and it should have been re- 

 membered that the expence of the roads far as - 

 irctderos), for the transport of the timber, when 

 once traced, would not have been the same, and 

 that, by the increase of the population, the 

 price of day labour would progressively have 

 diminished. It belongs to ship- builders alone 

 who know the localities, to judge, whether in 

 the present state of things, the freight of mer- 

 chant vessels be not far too dear to allow of 

 sending large quantities of wood roughly hewn, 

 to Europe ; but it cannot be doubted that Vene- 

 zuela possesses on its maritime coast, as well as 

 on the banks of the Oroonoko, immense re- 

 sources for ship building. The fine ships which 

 have gone out of the yards of the Havanah, 

 Guayaquil, and San Bias, have, no doubt, cost 

 more than those constructed in Europe, but 

 from the nature of tropical wood, they possess 

 the advantage of hardness and amazing dura- 

 bility. 



We have just analysed the objects of com- 

 mercial industry at Venezuela and their im- 

 mense value ; it remains to take a view of the 

 means of commerce which are found in a country 

 destitute of high roads, and wheel carriages, 

 and restricted to internal and external naviga- 

 tion. The uniformity of temperature that pre- 

 vails in the greater part of these provinces, 

 causes such an equality in the agricultural pro- 



