GEADE8 OF CIVILIZATION. 
393 
ment designates by the name of Capitania-General de Cara- 
cas,* or of the united provinces of Venezuela, has nearly a 
million of inhabitants, among whom are sixty thousand 
slaves. It comprises, along the coasts, New Andalusia, or the 
province of Cumana (with the island of Margareta),t Barce- 
lona, Venezuela or Caracas, Coro, and Maracaybo ; in the 
interior, the provinces of Varinas and Guiana ; the former 
situated on the rivers of Santo Domingo and the Apure, the 
latter stretching along the Orinoco, the Casiquiare, the Ata- 
hapo, and the Bio Negro. In a general view of the seven 
united provinces of Terra Firma, we perceive that they form 
three distinct zones, extending from east to west. 
We find, first, cultivated land along the sea-shore, and 
near the chain of the mountains on the coast ; next, savan- 
uahs or pasturages ; and finally, beyond the Orinoco, a third 
zone, that of the forests, into which we can penetrate only 
by the rivers which traverse them. If the native inhabitants 
of the forests lived entirely on the produce of the chase, like 
those of the Missouri, we might say that the three zones 
into which we have divided the territory of Venezuela, 
picture the three states of human society ; the life of the 
wild hunter, in the woods of the Orinoco ; pastoral life, in 
the savannahs or llanos ; and the agricultural state, in ths 
high valleys, and at the foot of the mountains on the coast. 
Missionary monks and some few soldiers occupy here, as 
throughout all Spanish America, advanced posts along the 
frontiers of Brazil. In this first zone are felt the prepon- 
derance of force, and the abuse of power, which is its 
necessary consequence. The natives carry on civil war, and 
sometimes devour one another. The monks endeavour to 
augment the number of little villages of their Missions, by 
taking advantage of the dissensions of the natives. The mili- 
and Santa Cruz de la Sierra, have been separated from it, contains only 
30.000. New Grenada, including the province of Quito, contain* 
65.000. Reinos , Capitanias- Generates, Presidencias, Goviernos , and 
Provincial!, are the names by which Spain formerly distinguished her 
transmarine possessions, or, as they were called, ‘ Dominios de Ultramar’ 
(Dominions beyond Sea.) 
* The captain-general of Caracas has the title of “ Capitan-General de 
las Provincias de Venezuela y Ciudad de Caracas.’’ 
t This island, near the coast of Cumana, forms a separate govierno 
depending immediately on the captain-general of Caracas. 
