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hereafter wherewith to subsist so many persons.** 

 Solano, impatient to advance, refused to listen 

 to the counsel of the Indian chief ; and the new 

 inhabitants of San Fernando had to suffer all the 

 evils of scarcity. Canoes were sent at a great 

 expence to New Grenada, by the Meta, and the 

 Vichada, in search of flour. The provision 

 arrived too late, and many Spaniards and In- 

 dians perished by those diseases which are pro- 

 duced in every climate by want and moral de- 

 jection. 



Some traces of cultivation are still found at 

 San Fernando. Every Indian has a small plan- 

 tation of cacao trees, which produce abundantly 

 the fifth year ; but they cease to bear fruit sooner 

 than in the valleys of Aragua. The nut is small, 

 and of an excellent quality. One almeida, twelve 

 of which compose a fanega, may be bought at 

 San Fernando for six reals, or nearly four franks ; 

 on the coast it costs at least twenty or twenty- 

 five franks ; but the whole mission scarcely pro- 

 duces eighty vanegas a year ; and as the monks 

 of the missions of the Oroonoko and the Rio 

 Negro only trade in cacao, according to an 

 ancient abuse, the Indian is not stimulated to 

 extend this cultivation, which affords him 

 scarcely any benefit. There are some savan- 

 nahs and good pasturage round San Fernando, 

 but hardly seven or eight cows are to be found, 

 the remains of a considerable herd, which was 



