342 



1548. He was an inhabitant of the town of 

 Tocuyo, and had long resided in New Grenada. 



When we hear of the " innumerable quantity" 

 of oxen, horses, and mules, that are spread over 

 the plains of America, we seem generally to for- 

 get, that in civilized Europe, on lands of much 

 less extent, there exist in agricultural countries 

 quantities no less prodigious. France, according 

 to Mr. Peuchet, feeds 6,000,000 of large horned 

 cattle, of which there are 3,500,000 oxen em- 

 ployed in drawing the plough. In the Austrian 

 monarchy the number of oxen, cows, and calves, 

 is estimated by Mr. Lichtenstein at 13,400,000 

 head. Paris alone consumes annually 155,000 

 horned cattle *. Germany receives 150,000 

 oxen yearly from Hungary. Domestic animals, 

 collected in small herds, are considered by agri- 

 cultural nations as a secondary object in the 

 riches of the state. Accordingly they strike the 

 imagination much less than those wandering 

 droves of oxen and horses, which fill alone the 

 uncultivated tracts of the New World. Civili- 

 zation and social order favour alike the progress 

 of population, and the multiplication of animals 

 useful to man. 



We found at Calabozo, in the midst of the 



* 72,000 oxen, 9,000 cows, 74,000 calves, according to 

 the official statement of 1817 ; the population of Paris being 

 713,765 individuals. Paris consumes besides 328,000 sheep, 

 and 74,000 hogs ; in all, 77,300,000 pounds of butcher's meat. 



