120 
NfJJVA BAECEIOy.l, 
beach ; and, though our boat carried a large sail, we did not 
arrive at Maniquarez before night. • 
Wo prolonged our stay at Cumana only a fortnight. 
Having lost all hope of the arrival of a packet from Corunna, 
we availed ourselves of an American vessel, laden at Nueva 
Barcelona with salt provision for the island of Cuba. We had 
no\\|^ passed sixteen months on this coast, and in the interior 
of 1 enezuela, and on the IGtIi November we parted from our 
friends at Cumana to make the passage for the third time 
across the gulf of Cariaeo to Nueva Barcelona. The night 
was cool and delicious. It was not without emotion that wo 
beheld for the last time the disc of the moon illuminating 
the summit of the cocoa-trees tiiat surround the banks of 
the Manzanares. The breeze was strong, and in less than 
six hours we anchored near the Morro of Nueva Barcelona, 
where the vessel which was to take us to the Havannah was 
ready to sail. 
CHAPTEE XXVII. 
Political state of tlie Provinces of Venezuela. — Extent of Territory. — 
Population. — Natural Productions. — External Trade. — Communi* 
cations between the different Provinces comprising the Republic of 
Columbia. 
Befoee I quit the coasts of Terra Eirma, and draw the 
.attention of the reader to the political importance of Cuba, 
the largest of the West India Islands, 1 will collect into 
one point of view all those facts which may lead to a just 
appreciation of the future relations of commercial Europe 
with the united Provinces of Venezuela. When, soon after 
my return to Germany, I published the “ Essai Politique sur 
la Nouvelle-Espagne,” I at the same time made knovvTi some 
of the facts I had collected in relation to the territorial riches 
of South America. This comparative view of the popula- 
tion, agriculture, and commerce of all the Spanish colonies 
was formed at a period when the progress of civilization was 
restrained by the imperfection of social institutions, the pro- 
hibitory system, and other fatal errors in the science of 
government. Since the time when I developed the ira* 
