84 
RAVAGES or THE TERMITES. 
Nueva Valencia, founded in 1555 under the government 
of Villacinda, by Alonzo Diaz Moreno, is twelve years older 
than Caracas. Valencia was at first only a dependency of 
Burburata; but this latter town is nothing now but a place 
of embarkation for mules. It is regretted, and perhaps 
justly, that Valencia has not become the capital of the 
country. Its situation in a plain, on the banks of a lake, 
recalls to mind the position of Mexico. When we reflect on 
the easy communication afforded by the valleys of Aragua 
with the Llanos and the rivers that flow into the Orinoco ; 
when we recognize the possibility of opening an inland 
navigation, by the Rio Pao and the Portuguesa, as far as the 
mouths of the Orinoco, the Cassiquiare, and the Amazon, 
it may be conceived that the capital of the vast provinces of 
Venezuela would have been better placed near the fine 
harbour of Porto Cabello, beneath a pure and serene sky, 
than near the unsheltered road of La Guayra, in a tem- 
perate but constantly foggy valley. Near the kingdom of 
New Grenada, and situate between the fertile corn-lands of 
La Victoria and Barquesimeto, the city of Valencia ought to 
have prospered; but, notwithstanding these advantages, it 
has been unable to maintain the contest with Caracas. 
Only those who have seen the myriads of ants, that infest 
the countries within the torrid zone, can form an idea of the 
destruction and the sinking of the ground occasioned by 
these insects. They abound to such a degree on the site of 
Valencia, that their excavations resemble subterranean 
canals, which are filled with water in the time of the rains, 
and become very dangerous to the buildings. Here recourse 
has not been had to the extraordinary means employed at 
the beginning of the sixteenth century in the island of 
St. Domingo, when troops of ants ravaged the fine plains of 
La Vega, and the rich possessions of the order of St. Francis. 
The monks, after having in vain burnt the larvae of the ants, 
and had recouse to fumigations, advised the inhabitants to 
choose by lot a saint, who would act as a mediator against 
the plague of the ants.* The honour of the choice fell on 
St. Satumin; and the ants disappeared as soon as the first 
festival of this saint was celebrated. Incredulity has made 
great progress since the time of the conquest; and .t vas 
* Un abogado contra los harmigos. 
