60 
MCNTCIPALITr OF NEGROES. 
ampelite. The minerals extracted from this shaft, which 
were sent to me at Caracas, were quartz, nou-auriferous 
pyrites, and carbonated lead, crystallized in needles of a 
silky lustre. 
In the early times of the conquest the working of the 
mines of Nirgua and of Buria* was begun, notwithstanding 
the incursions of the warlike nation of the G-iraharas. In 
this very district the accumulation of negro slaves in 1558 
gave rise to an event bearing some analogy to the insur- 
rection in St. Domingo. A negro slave excited an insur- 
rection among the miners of the Beal de San Felipe de 
Buria. He retired into the woods, and founded, with two 
hundred of his companions, a town, where he was proclaimed 
king. Miguel, this new king, was a friend to pomp and 
parade. He caused his wife (luiomar, to assume the title of 
queen; and, according to Oviedo, he appointed ministers 
and counsellors of state, officers of the royal household, and 
even a negro bishop. He soon after ventured to attack the 
neighbouring town of Nueva Segovia de Barquesimeto; but, 
being repulsed by Diego de Losada, he perished in the conflict. 
This African monarchy was succeeded at Nirgua by a republic 
of Zamboes, the descendants of negroes and Indians. The 
whole municipality (eabildo) is composed of men of colour 
to whom the king of Spain has given the title of “ his 
faithful and loyal subjects, the Zamboes of Nirgua.” Few 
families of Whites will inhabit a country where the system 
of government is so adverse to their pretensions ; and the 
little town is called in derision La republica de Zambos y 
Mulatox. 
If the hot vallies of Aroa, of Yaracuy, and of the Bio 
Tocuyo, celebrated for their excellent timber, be rendered 
feverish by luxuriance of vegetation, and extreme atmo- 
spheric humidity, it is different in the savannahs of Monai 
and Carora. These Llanos are separated by the moun- 
tainous tract of Tocuyo and Nirgua from the great plains of 
La Portuguesa and Calabozo. It is very extraordinary to 
see barren savannahs loaded with miasmata. Xo marshy 
ground is found there, but several phenomena indicate a 
* The valley of Buria, and the little river of the same name, com- 
municate with the valley of the Rio Coxede, or the Rio de Barque- 
ficneto. 
