235 



ductions necessary to life, that the want of ex- 

 changes is there felt less than at Pern, Quito, 

 and New Grenada, where the most opposite 

 climates prevail on a small space of land. The 

 flour of the cereals is almost an object of luxury 

 for the great mass of the population, and every 

 province participating in the possession of the 

 Llanos, that is of pasturages, draws its nourish- 

 ment from its own soil. The inequality of the 

 harvest of maize, varying according as rain is 

 more or less frequent ; the transportation of 

 salt, and the prodigious consumption of meat in 

 the most peopled districts, lead, no doubt, to 

 exchanges between the Llanos and the coast ; 

 but the great and real object of commercial 

 activity in the interior of Venezuela, is the car- 

 riage of products to be exported to the West 

 Indies and to Europe ; such as cacao, cotton, 

 coffee, indigo, dried meat, and hides. It is sin- 

 gular, that, notwithstanding the great number 

 of horses and mules that wander in the Llanos, 

 no use is yet made of those great waggons 

 which have for ages traversed the Pampas, be- 

 tween Cordova and Buenos-Ayres. I did not 

 see one in a single waggon on Terra Firma; 

 the conveyance of goods is all made on the back 

 of mules, or by water. A road, however, might 

 be easily traced, fitted for wheel carriages, from 

 Caraccas to Valencia, in the vallies of Aragua, 

 and thence by the Villa de Cura to the Llanos 



