237 



large plantations ; but this supposition is not 

 conformable to the state of the colony, and the 

 nature of things. In 1811 the island of Cuba 

 employed a hundred and forty-three thousand 

 slaves in the fields alone ; while the Capitania 

 General of Caraccas, which produces but does 

 not export two hundred thousand fanegas of 

 cacao a year, or to the value of five millions of 

 piastres, has, both in the towns and in the fields, 

 only sixty thousand slaves. It is almost super- 

 fluous to add, that these results vary with the 

 prices of sugar and cacao. 



The finest plantations of cacao are found in 

 the province of Caraccas along the coast, be- 

 tween Caravalleda and the mouth of the Rio 

 Tucuyo*, in the valleys of Caucagua^ Capaya, 

 Curiepe, and Guapo ; and in those of Cupira, 

 between Cape Codera and Cape Unare, near 

 Arora,Barquesimeto, Guigue,andUritucu. The 

 cacao that grows on the banks of the Uritucu, 

 at the entrance of the Llanos, in the jurisdiction 

 of San Sebastian de las Reyes, is considered as 

 of the first quality. Next to the cacao of 

 Uritucu comes that of Guigue, of Caucagua, of 

 Capaya, and of Cupira. The merchants of 

 Cadiz assign the first rank to the cacao of 

 Caraccas, immediately after that of Socomusco ; 



* The two provinces of Caraccas and of Nueva Barcelona 

 are disputing this very fertile tract of ground. 



