136 
COMTAlitSOX ISKTWI'EX 
by the lilauos and the forests of Guiana, and, therefore, 
presenting great obstacles to agricultural labourers, -we 
should still obtain a population of six millions for the 
remaining 9700 square leagues. Those vho, like myself, 
have lived long within the tropics, will find no exaggeration 
in these calculations ; for I suppose for the portion the 
most easily cultivated, a relative population equal to that 
in the intendencias of Puebla and Mexico,* full of barren 
mountains, and extending towards the coast of the Pacific, 
over regions almost desert. If the territories of Cuinana, 
Barcelona, Caracas, Maracaybo, Varinas, and Guiana, 
should be destined hereafter to enjoy good provincial 
and municipal institutions, as confederate states, they 
will not require a century and a half to attain a popu- 
lation of six millions of inhabitants. Venezuela, the 
eastem^ mrt_ of the republic of Columbia, would not, 
even with nine millions, have a more considerable popu- 
lation than Old Spain ; and can it be doubted that that 
part of Venezuela which is most fertile and easy of cul- 
tivation, that is, the 10,000 square leagues remahiing after 
deducting the Llanos and the almost impenetrable forests 
between the Orinoco and the Cassiquiare, could support in 
the fine climate of the tropics, as many inhabitants as 10,000 
square leagues of Estramadura, the Castiles, and other 
provinces of the table-hmd of Spain ? These predictions are 
by no means problematical, inasmuch as they are founded on 
physical analogies and on the productive power of the soil ; 
but before we can indulge the hope that they will be actu- 
ally accomplished, we must be secure of another element 
less susceptible of calculation, — that national wisdom which 
subdues hostile passions, destroys the germs of civil discord, 
and gives stability to free and energetic institutions. 
“When we take a view of the soil of Venezuela and New 
Grenada, we perceive that no other country of Spanish 
America furnishes commerce with such various and rich 
productions of the vegetable kingdom. If we add the 
harvests of the province of Caracas to those of Guavaquil, 
ve find that the republic of Columbia alone can furnish 
nearly all the cacao annually demanded by Europe. The 
• These two Intendencias contain together 5520 square leagues, and a 
relative population of 508 inhabitants to the square sea-league. 
