most part, an unsettled and comparatively unexplored country, traversed by great rivers and clothed with virgin forest. Here the native Indian has been hitherto comparatively free from the intrusions of the white settler, and still finds a congenial habitat in hunting-grounds that are seldom trespassed upon. The commercial products of this frontier region consist of copaiba, serrapeas, or "Tonca beans," vanilla, mahogany, and other cabinet woods.

Although high mountains meet the eye in almost every direction, there are really but three well-defined ranges. The first to attract attention is the celebrated coast range, which extends from the vicinity of Lake Maracaybo on the west, to the Gulf of Paria on the east, and thence to within a few miles of the Essequibo estuaries. This range runs parallel with the Caribbean and the Atlantic shores, and attains its greatest altitude near the city of Caracas. Here the noted peak of La Silla (so-called from its fancied resemblance to a cavalry saddle) reaches up to the height of 8,622 feet above the sea-level. Just beyond, a few miles to the eastward, is the still higher peak of Naiguate, 9,180 feet above the sea, the highest point of the Andes on the Atlantic coast.

Running parallel with this coast range, and some seventy-five or eighty miles south of it, is the great Parima range, which forms the southern boundary of the agricultural zone. The highest peaks of this range are Peñon-Maraguapa, Quinta, and Zamora, respectively 8,202, 7,405, and 7,349 feet above sea-level.

Nearly at right angles with these two ranges is the great eastern cordillera of the Andes, which, bending northward from the vicinity of Pamplona in Colombia, branches out into two dizzy ridges a few leagues to the south of Maracaybo. One of these extends to the

peninsula of Goajira, the other intersects the coast range near Puerto Cabello, and attains its greatest height near the beautiful little city of Barquisemeto, where it towers 15,000 feet above the sea-level, and is covered with perpetual snow and ice.

The snow limit in this region is at about 13,500 feet elevation, although, in exceptionally warm seasons, the snow and ice disappear temporarily at an altitude of 14,500 feet. Of course at these great altitudes there is almost no vegetation; but at the height of two and three thousand feet the climate is delightful and vegetation abundant, the thermometer seldom falling below 65 degrees or rising above 78 degrees Fah. This is the natural habitat of the best grades of coffee, and seems to be generally well adapted to the cereals and other products of the north temperate zone. Below an altitude of 1,800 feet, and thence down to sea-level, the temperature ranges from 78 to 94 degrees Fah. This is the natural home of the sugar-cane and tobacco plant, the chocolate bean and cocoa-nut palm, and all varieties of tropical fruits and flowers.

The average annual temperature of any given locality is dependent, of course, upon its altitude. Thus at Caracas, 3,000 feet above sea-level, the mean temperature is about 70 degrees Fah. At Merida, 5,000 feet elevation, it is about 60 degrees. At Barcelona, 42 feet elevation, it is about 82 degrees. At Barquisemeto, 1,700 feet elevation, it is about 77 degrees. At Ciudad Bolívar (Angostura), on the Orinoco river, 190 feet elevation, it is about 83 degrees.

There are but two well-defined seasons in any portion of the Republic, namely, the "wet" and the "dry." The last named begins in October and ends with March; the first commences in April and ends in October. Except at great altitudes, there are never any frosts;

and even in the lowlands and on the coast, where the heat is most intense, sunstroke, or heat apoplexy, is almost unknown.

Here, then, is a country in which, as in Colombia, nature seems to have been peculiarly lavish in her bounties; while its favored geographical position places it in easy communication with the outside world, thus giving the little Republic many commercial advantages which Colombia does not possess. Both countries are great in future possibilities, but Venezuela is perhaps the greater. As yet both are but sparsely populated; both have been delayed in progress by unstable government; both are more than half a century behind the age. These conditions cannot long continue. In the present age of the world, when the struggle for subsistence has become one of serious moment in many parts of Europe and Asia, such countries as Colombia and Venezuela cannot remain unnoticed many decades longer. Civilization will demand their development. And it is to be hoped that, profiting by the lessons of history, the people of both will realize the necessity of stable government as the one condition precedent to anything like national prosperity, if not to national existence itself.

CHAPTER XIX

T

STAPLE PRODUCTS OF VENEZUELA

HE agricultural districts of Venezuela comprise an area of something over 30,000 square miles, and lie as I have said, within the three parallel valleys between the coast and the great Parima ranges of mountains. These valleys are at altitudes of from 1,200 to 3,500 feet above sea-level, and therefore have for the most part an equable and temperate climate. The soil is generally a dark loam, easily cultivated, and seldom suffers from protracted droughts. They are rarely visited by fevers, and are generally considered healthful. A large portion of each of them is connected with the outside world by water navigation. Their present products are sugar, tobacco, maize, rice, wheat, barley, potatoes, and a little cotton of very inferior quality. Among the possible products would be a high grade of cotton, and all the cereals and vegetables of the north temperate

zone.

During the civil war in the United States, cotton culture in this region received quite an impetus, . especially in the immediate vicinity of Lake Valencia, where both climate and soil are peculiarly well adapted to the plant; and even after the close of that war, a number of experienced planters from our Gulf States, who had become disgusted with the new order of things at home, leased large tracts of land in Venezuela

and entered quite extensively into the business of cotton growing. They did very well for a time, but a "revolution" broke out in 1869-70, which caused them to lose two crops in succession. Many of them lost everything. Very soon they became discouraged; and those who were able, returned to the United States wiser but poorer men. Since then, the industry has fallen into complete decadence, and not a bale of cotton is now raised for export. With a stable government, Venezuela would probably become one of the cotton-producing countries of the world, for the climate and soil are, as I have said, peculiarly well adapted to this class of industry. The cotton plant here grows to the dimensions of a large bush, and annual replanting is seldom necessary. One good stand will last for several years, and with proper attention the fibre can be made equal to that of our average Georgia or Texas

cotton.

In many parts of Venezuela the sugar-cane is indigenous, and gives an enormous yield with very little cultivation. There are some very fine sugar plantations, especially in the small valleys near the coast; but little or no sugar is raised for export, and the article is consumed in a crude state. It is usually moulded into cylindrical blocks, called papalon, weighing from three to five pounds each, and is very similar in appearance and taste to the best maple sugar of the United States. The tax on the importation of all foreign refined sugars amounts to practical prohibition; and yet there is not a sugar refinery worthy of the name in all the Republic.

It has been asserted by those who are generally accepted as authority on the subject, that the tobacco. plant (Nicotiana rustica) is a native of tropical America. It has been likewise asserted, with equal confidence,