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much sugar as in the island of Cuba, and more than in the 
plantations of St. Domingo. This province alone would 
keep alive the commerce of the port of Vera Cruz, if the 
number of the colonists were greater, and if their laziness, 
the effect of the bounty of nature, and the facility of pro¬ 
viding without effort for the most urgent wants of life, did 
not impede the progress of industry. The province of 
Vera Cruz contains within its limits two colossal summits, 
of which one, the volcano of Orizaba, is, after the Popo¬ 
catepetl, the most elevated mountain of Mexico. . The 
other summit, the Coffre de Perote, according to the mea¬ 
surement of Humboldt, is nearly 1312 feet higher than the 
Peak of Teneriffe. It serves as a signal to the sailors who 
put in at Vera Cruz. 
In the northern part of the province, at two leagues 
distance from the great Indian village of Papantla, there is 
a pyramidal edifice of great antiquity. This pyramid re¬ 
mained unknown to the first conquerors, being situated in 
the midst of a thick forest, and concealed by the Indians, 
who held it in great veneration. It is constructed of im-. 
mense stones of a porphyritical shape. Mortar is distin¬ 
guishable in the seams. The edifice, however, is not so 
remarkable for its size, as for its symmetry, the polish of the 
stones, and the great regularity of their cut. The base of 
the pyramid is an exact square, each side being 82 feet in 
length. The perpendicular height appears not to be more 
thau from 52 to 65 feet. This monument, like all the other 
Mexican monuments, is composed of several stages. Six 
are still distinguishable, and a seventh appears to be con¬ 
cealed by the vegetation with which the sides of the pyramid 
are covered. A great stair of 57 steps conducts to the top, 
where the human victims were sacrificed. On each side of 
the great stair is a small stair. The facing of the stones is 
adorned with hieroglyphics, in which serpents and croco¬ 
diles, carved in relievo, are discernible. Each story con¬ 
tains a great number of square niches, symmetrically dis¬ 
tributed. In the first story there are 24 on each side, in the 
second 20, and in the third 16. The number of these 
niches in the body of the pyramid is 366, and there are 12 
in the stairs towards the east. According to the latest enu¬ 
meration, Vera Cruz contains 156,000 inhabitants. The 
extent of its surface is 4141 square leagues, and there are 
38 inhabitants to each league. 
VERA CRUZ, the grand sea-port of Mexico. It fronts 
the sea in a semicircle, and is inclosed with a simple 
wall or parapet, six feet high and three feet broad, sur¬ 
mounted by a wooden pallisade in great decay. On the 
shore to the south-east and north-west, are two redoubts, 
with some cannon to defend the port, which is not commo¬ 
dious, being merely a bad anchorage among shallows. The 
habitual population, without including the militia and sea¬ 
faring people, is 16,000. The fair lasts many weeks, and 
during this period there is a great resort of strangers to the 
place; 150 miles east-south-east of Puebla. Lat. 19.11. 
52. N. long. 100. 49. 15. W. 
VERA CRUZ, a small island in the Atlantic ocean, on 
the coast of Brazil, at the entrance of the bay of Todos Santos. 
VERA CRUZ, a port in the bay of St. Philip and St. 
Jago, in Terra Australis del Espiritu Santo, discovered by 
Quiros in 1606, capable of containing 1000 ships, with clear 
soundings of black sand, and water from three feet to forty 
fathoms. 
VERA CRUZ, Old, a sea-port of Mexico, in the province 
of Tlascala. This is the port where Cortez landed in 1518; 
15 miles north of Vera Cruz. Lat. 19.20. N. long. 97.40. W. 
VERA PAZ, a province of Guatimala, bounded on the 
north by the provinces of Chiapa and Yucatan; on the east 
by Honduras and the bay or gulf of Honduras ; on the south 
by Guatimala ; and on the west by the same and Chiapa. 
It is about 120 miles in length, and 74 in extreme breadth. 
The country is rough and broken, full of deep ravines, with 
a plain, which is half a league in extent, and covered with 
thick and impenetrable woods. Half of this province is of a 
mild and benign temperature, and the other half is hot, and 
Vol. XXIV. No. 1641. 
353 
abounding in mosquitoes of various kinds. The woods of 
this province are thronged with animals and wild beasts; 
the largest of these is the clanta, as big as a calf, though 
somewhat short, and thicker set in all itsjoints, which on the 
whole resembles those ot the elephant. This animal is fero¬ 
cious and terrible when irritated, and with its tusks destroys 
every thing it meets in its course, not excepting trees of con¬ 
siderable strength. Here are likewise lions, tigers, bears of 
an enormous size, cats and mountain goats, monkeys of 
various kinds, wild boars, porcupines, squirrels, and a variety 
of other animals. Also amongst the birds are eagles, small 
eagles, sea-crows, bitterns, storks, parrots, and others es¬ 
teemed for their plumage and their song. This province is 
also filled with vipers, and snakes of various kinds. The 
fountains and rivers are so numerous, that there are 30 of the 
latter to be met with in the space of three leagues, and all of 
them run to disembogue themselves into the sea, at the gulf. 
The trade of the province consists chiefly in drugs, cotton, 
cacao, honey, wool, &c. 
VERA PAZ, the chief town of the above province, is 
situated on the Rio Coban, which falls into the gulf or lake 
of Dulce; 600 miles south-east of Mexico. Lat. 15. 50. N. 
long. 91. 14. W. 
VERA'CIOUS, adj. [yera.r, Lat.] Observant of truth.— 
The Spirit is most perfectly and absolutely veracious. 
Barrow. 
VERA'CITY, s. [vera.v, Latin.] Moral truth.—What 
can we say ? Even that, which the man in Terence said to a 
person whose veracity he suspected. Bryant. —Physical 
truth; consistency of report with fact. Less proper .— 
When they submitted to the most ignominious and cruel 
deaths, rather than retract their testimony, there was no reason 
to doubt the veracity of those facts which they related. 
Addison. 
VERAGUA, a province of Terra Firma, in South Ame¬ 
rica, bounded on the north by the Caribbean sea; east by 
the province of Darien in South America, which is separated 
from Veragua by the ridge of Canatagua; on the west by Costa 
Rica; and on the south by the great Pacific ocean. Veragua 
is a mountainous rugged country, covered with vast forests, 
beautifully interspersed with luxuriant and fertile valleys, 
wherein are found various estates and grazing farms, well 
stocked with cattle, from the abundance of excellent pas¬ 
tures. The woods abound with monkeys and wild animals. 
There is one kind of monkey, of a delicate form and yellow 
colour, with a white head; and it is said they never live 
when removed from their native climate. 
The gold and silver mines of Veragua are not much 
wrought, owing to the rugged nature of the country in which 
they are situated ; the natives being the only means they 
have to transport the produce over the mountains, which, 
when a mine is worked, they do on their backs. The labour 
and expense attendant on this mode of carrying the ores to 
be smelted, render the working of the mines, though they are 
very rich, almost impracticable. 
VERAGUA, St. Jago de, the capital of the above pro¬ 
vince, is a handsome town, situated in a moist and warm 
climate, and surrounded by a small district, which produces 
Indian corn, a root called yucca, of which they make bread, 
and plantains. Cattle and hogs are here also very numerous. 
VERA'NDA, s. A word adopted from the East, where 
it means the covering of a house extended beyond the main 
pile of building, and forming, by a sloping roof, external 
passages; a kind of open portico. 
VERATRUM [of Pliny. Derivation unknown], in 
Botany, a genus of the class polygamia, order monoecia, 
natural order of coronarise, junci (Juss.) —Generic Cha¬ 
racter. Hermaphrodite.—Calyx none, unless the corolla 
be considered as such. Corolla: petals six, oblong, lanceo¬ 
late, thinner at the edge, serrate, permanent. Stamina: fil¬ 
aments six, awl shaped, pressing the germs, more spreading 
at the tips, shorter by half than the corolla. Anthers quad¬ 
rangular. Pistil : germs three, erect, oblong, ending in 
scarcely apparent styles. Stigmas simple, patulous. Peri- 
3 T carp : 
