FHMBERS OF THE WILD CATTLE. 
109 
bottom of an inland sea, we may conceive that thousands of 
years have not sufficed for the trees and shrubs to advance 
from the borders of the forests, from the skirts of the plains 
either naked or covered with turf' toward the centre, and 
darken so vast a space with their shade. It is more difficult to 
explain the origin of bare savannahs, encircled by forests, 
than to recognize the causes that maintain forests and savan- 
nahs within their ancient limits, like continents and seas. 
We found the most cordial hospitality at Calabozo, in the 
bouse of the superintendent of the royal plantations, Don 
-diguel Cousin. The town, situated between the banks of 
the Guarico and the Uritucu, contained at this period only 
five thousand inhabitants; but everything denoted increasing 
prosperity. The wealth of most of the inhabitants consists 
in herds, under the management of farmers, who are called 
hateros, from the word hato, which signifies in Spanish a 
bouse or farm placed in the midst of pastures. The scat- 
tered population of the Llanos being accumulated on certain 
Points, principally around towns, Calabozo reckons already 
five villages or missions in its environs. It is computed, 
that 98,000 head of cattle wander in the pastures nearest 
to the town. It is very difficult to form an exact idea 
of the herds contained in the Llanos oi Caracas, Barce- 
lona, Cumana, and Spanish Guiana. M. Depons, who lived 
Ip the town of Caracas longer than I, and whose statis- 
tical statements are generally accurate, reckons in those 
Vast plains, from the mouths of the Orinoco to the lake of 
^taracaybo, 1,200,000 oxen, 180,000 horses, and 90,000 
mules. ' He estimates the produce of these herds at 5,000,000 
francs ; adding to the value of the exportation the price of 
fbe .hides consumed in the country. There exist, it is 
believed, in the Pampas of Buenos Ayres, 12,000,000 cows, 
aQ d 3,000,000 hoi’ses, without comprising in this enuine- 
m eration the cattle that have no acknowledged proprietor. 
1 shall not hazard any general estimates, which from their 
nature are too uncertain; but shall only observe that, in 
fae Llanos of Caracas, the proprietors of the great halos are 
Entirely ignorant of the number of the cattle they possess. 
bey only know that of the young cattle, which are branded 
e yery year with a letter or mark peculiar to each herd. The 
^L'hest proprietors mark as many as 14,000 head every 
