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population spread in Venezuela from West to 

 East. Valencia was at first only a dependancy 

 ofBurburata; but this latter town is nothing 

 now but a place of embarkation for mules. It 

 is regretted, and perhaps justly, that Valencia 

 has not become the capital of the country. It's 

 situation in a plain, on the banks of a lake, re- 

 calls to mind the position of Mexico. When we 

 reflect on the easy communication, which the 

 valleys of Aragua furnish with the Llanos, and 

 the rivers that flow into the Oroonoko ; when we 

 recognize the possibility of opening an inland 

 navigation, by the Rio Pao and the Portuguesa, 

 as far as the mouths of the Oroonoko, the Cas- 

 siquiare, and the Amazon ; it may be conceived, 

 that the capital of the vast provinces of Vene- 

 zuela would have been better placed near the 

 fine harbour of Porto Cabello, beneath a pure 

 and serene sky, than near the unsheltered road 

 of La Guayra, in a temperate but constantly 

 foggy valley. Near the kingdom of New Gra- 

 nada, and situate between the fertile corn-lands of 

 La Victoria and Barquesimeto, the city of Valen- 

 cia ought to have prospered ; but, notwithstand- 

 ing these advantages, it has been unable to 

 maintain the contest with Caraccas, which dur- 

 ing two centuries has borne away a great num- 

 ber of it's inhabitants. The families of Man- 

 tuanoes have preferred a residence in the capital 

 to that of a provincial town. 



