KUEYA VALENCIA. 
38 
oranches and leaves, draw a great part of their nourishment 
from the ambient air ; and the virgin soil augments its fer- 
oy the decomposition of the vegetable substances 
which progressively accumulate. It is not so in the fields 
covered with indigo, or other herbaceous plants; where the 
rays of the sun penetrate freely into the earth, and by the 
accelerated combustion of the hydrurets of carbon and other 
acidifaable principles, destroy the germs of fecundity. These 
e ects strike the imagination of the planters the more for- 
Cl , a3 m lands newly inhabited they compare the fertility 
ot a soil which has been abandoned to itself during thou- 
sands of years, with the produce of ploughed fields. The 
opanish colonies on the continent, and the great islands of 
orto-Kico i and Cuba, possess remarkable advantages with 
respeot to the produce of agriculture over the lesser West 
India Islands. The former, from their extent, the variety 
he-, 16 n ^ cne P’’ and their small relative population, still 
mT aU the characters of a new soil; while at Barbadoes, 
nf tfn , Lucif b the Virgin Islands, and the French part 
tfomingo, it mav be perceived that long cultivation 
wiF? I ex iaust tae soa - If “ the valleys of Aragua, 
instead of abandonmg the mdigo grounds, and' leaving them 
rmVu “ley were °°£ ered durin g several years, not with 
these T th a i vn ,' entar y and forage; if among 
frrre/ i l U f a f Peloil S to different families were pre- 
ferred, and which shade the soil by their large leaves the 
amelioration of the fields would be gradually accomnli shi d 
.Mthej would be reseed to , p g 
„ r ' r !;;;"'i Vr;J, i n y occupies u considerable extent 
=evfn b V tS P i° PU ^!° n scareel y amounts to six or 
market^W^i S0UlS ' ^ streets are vet T broad, the 
houses h ’/ P a7 ; ! u ma 7 0r >) 13 of Ta st dimensions; and, the 
of the w. g 10 a’ su® dls P ro P ortion between the population 
than at r> ’ anf the space that it occupies, is still greater 
ioorest\ P ara ? af \n of the V Hte3 . (specially the 
the vean ° rS j 1 i ;e . bouses, and live the greater part of 
where m tbeir ktt e Plantations of indigo and cotton, 
which a 7 , Can venture to work with their own hands; 
would t0 tbe lnve terate prejudices of that country, 
would be a disgrace to them in the town. 
