250 



Punta de Hicacos, the most remarkable are those 

 of Tocuyo, Aroa, and Yaracuy. Were it not 

 for the miasmata, that infect the atmosphere,, 

 the valleys of Aroa and of Yaracuy would per- 

 haps be more populous than those of Aragua*. 

 Navigable rivers would even give the former the 

 advantage of facilitating the exportation of their 

 own crops of sugar and cacao, and that of the 

 productions of the neighbouring lands ; as the 

 wheat of Quibor, the cattle of Monai, and the 

 copper of Aroa. The mines, from which this 

 copper is extracted, are in a lateral valley, open- 

 ing into that of Aroa ; and which is less hot, 

 and less unhealthy, than the ravines nearer the 

 sea. In the latter the Indians have their gold- 

 washings, and the soil conceals rich copper-ores, ; 

 which no one has yet attempted to extract. The 

 ancient mines of Aroa, after having been long 

 neglected, have been wrought anew by the care 

 of Don Antonio Henriquez, whom we met at 

 San Fernando on the borders of the Apure. It 

 appears from the information he gave us, that 

 the situation of the ore is a kind of mass (stock- 

 werck), formed by the union of several small 

 veins, which cross each other in every direction. 

 These masses are sometimes two or three toises 



* Urama, Moron, Cabria, San Nicolas, and the valleys of 

 Alpargaton, and Caravinas, arc also mentioned as extremely, 

 unhealthy. > 



