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from the mountains is about thirty leagues from south to north. The small river Ipire joins this last at about half its course from the

interior.

The next river eastward of any consequence is the Neveri, on which Barcelona is built. The Indian name of the stream is Enipricuar : it is infested with crocodiles; but by means of this river, which rises in the mountains of the interior, the port of Barcelona carries on its trade in cattle and skins. The animals are brought from the plains behind the mountains by three days' journey, so easy is the road, whilst it requires eight or nine days to reach Cumana by a similar route, on account of the steepness of the Brigantin and Imposible. This has greatly facilitated commercial speculation, and will one day render New Barcelona an important place.

At Cumana, the river Manzanares, which is navigable only for canoes beyond the town, is noted for having its shores lined with the most fruitful plantations.

Beyond Cumana, the mountains approach so: near the coast, that they leave no room for any streams of importance to flow; and therefore proceeding round the Point of Paria, and verging towards the Orinoco, the next river we find of any consequence is the Guarapiche, which flows into the Atlantic by a broad mouth just above the first estuary of the Ori

noco.

This river rises in the interior, as has been before mentioned.

Of the rivers which join the Orinoco, and flow through the plains of Cumana, the Mamo, the Pao, and the Suara, are the largest; and on the banks of these are some newly erected settlements.

As to the soil of this province,-from the river Unara to the city of Cumana the land is tolerably fertile. From the Point of Araya, for twenty to twenty-eight leagues more to the east, the coast is dry, sandy, and ungrateful. The soil offers nothing but an inexhaustible mine of salt, at once marine and mineral. The country which borders on the Orinoco is good only for raising cattle, and it is to that use they apply it. It is there that all the commons of the province are situate.

The residue is every-where of wonderful fertility. The plains, the valleys, the hill sides, announce by their verdure and kind of productions, that nature has there placed the most active principles of germination. But the inheritance is so little disputed with the beasts of the field, that neither tigers, panthers, nor even apes, seem to have any dread of man. The most precious trees, the guiacum, anacardium, brazil, and campeachy wood, are found down to the very coast of Paria itself.

The interior of the government of Cumana is occupied by mountains, some of which are

of an extraordinary elevation. The highest, that of Tumiriquiri, is nine hundred and thirtyfive toises above the level of the sea.-In this mountain is the cavern of Guacharo, famous among the Indians.

The climate of this government varies according to the situation of its districts,—on the high land of the mountains, or in the valleys or plains of the interior.

The

The principal establishments of the dependencies of Cumana are on the western coast, as Barcelona, Piritu, Clarinas, &c. Twelve leagues to the south-west of Cumana is the valley of Cumanacoa. In the environs of Cumanacoa are the Indian villages of San Fernando, Arenas, and Aricagua, situate in a territory of extreme but useless fertility. More in the interior are found the valleys of Carepa, Guanaguana, Cocoyar, &c. very fertile, but uncultivated. part which seems to have a disposition to flourish is the coast of the Gulf of Paria, from the place where the Guarapiche disembogues to the most northern mouth of the Orinoco. We there see two villages yet rising-Guiria and Guinima, inhabited by Spaniards and French refugees from Trinidad, since the English possessed themselves of it in 1797. The progress which cultivation has made in this short interval induces a presumption, that this district will in a few years become the richest in the province.

SECTION V.

CITY OF CUMANA.

THE City of Cumana, the most ancient of all Tierra Firme, was built, as has already been said, in 1520, by Gonzalo Ocampo, near a quarter of a league from the sea, on a sandy and dry soil. Cumana is situate in 10° 27′ 52" north latitude, and 64° 9′ 47′′ west longitude, a mile from the battery of the Boca, or mouth of the harbour, between which and the town extends a great plain called El Salado.

The port of Cumana is a road capable of receiving all the navies of Europe. The whole of the Gulf of Cariaco, which is thirty-five miles long and sixty-eight miles broad, affords excellent anchorage. The great ocean is not more calm and pacific on the coasts of Peru, than the sea of the Antilles from Porto Cavello, and especially from Cape Codera, to the Point of Paria. The hurricanes of the West Indies are never felt in these regions, the vessels of which are without decks. The only danger in the port of Cumana is a shoal, that of Morro Roxo, *

* There are from one to three fathoms water on this shoal, while just beyond its edges there are eighteen, thirty, and even thirty-eight. The remains of an old battery, situate to the north-north-east of the castle of St Antonio, and very near it, serve as a mark to avoid the bank of Morro

which is nine hundred toises broad from east to west, and so steep, that you are upon it almost before you have any warning of it. To protect this port, batteries of heavy mortars placed at each side of the entrance would be sufficient. They could hinder the most 'formidable fleets from entering, because ships of the line, in order to enter either the port of Cumana or this Gulf, are obliged, after having made the point of Araya, to avoid a sand-bank, which runs from that point into the sea for two leagues. The aspect of this coast is well described by Humboldt. He says: "We anchored opposite the mouth of the river Manzanares, at break of day. Our eyes were fixed on the groups of cocoa trees that border the river, and the trunks

Roxo. Before this battery shuts in with a very high mountain of the peninsula of Araya, which bears from the castle of St Antonio, 65° 30' north-east, at six leagues distance, the ship must be put about. If this be neglected, the danger of striking is so much the greater, as the heights of Bordones keep the wind from a vessel steering for the port. The Manzanares is so shallow as to be navigable only for small craft. Merchantmen anchor on what the Spaniards call the Placer, a sand-bank in the middle of the port. This anchoring, suitable for vessels of all descriptions, lies west from the river, and directly opposite to the stream called Bordones, about the distance of one league from the mouth of the river. From this description of the place it will readily occur to the reader, that recourse must be had to lighters for loading and unloading. This port has the advantage of being well sheltered against the inclemency of the weather.

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