though it is always turbid. Lavaysse says, the first time they presented this water to him at Pampatar, he refused it with disgust; but he was assured, that it was more wholesome than rain water, and they laughed at the grimaces he made. The rich have filtering stones; others drink as they draw it, and do not find any bad effects from it. This water contains a great quantity of calcareous marl. The climate of Margarita is very healthy. It is there that persons go who have contracted obstructions and other diseases in the humid and unwholesome parts of the island of Trinidad and the continent. The agriculture of the island scarcely suffices for the maintenance of its inhabitants. Maize, cassava, and bananas, are their principal resources. The bananas are excellent, but very small, owing to the aridity of the soil and dryness of the climate. The inhabitants cultivate, in small proportions, and for their own consumption only, all the productions of the Antillesthe sugar-cane, coffee and cocoa trees. They rear a great many goats and sheep, which, though lean, give delicious milk, owing to the aromatic herbs on which they feed. They have all kinds of fowls at a very trifling price. Living is still cheaper at Margarita than at Cumana or Caracas. Lavaysse says, "I have bought a capon there for fivepence; a dozen of eggs for twopence-halfpenny; two bottles of milk for the same; a fish of ten or twelve pounds for the same; a turkey for one shilling; a lamb of two months for fifteenpence, &c. The fishermen sell or exchange their fish for cakes of maize, bananas, cassava, bread, &c. I know of no inn, properly speaking, in this island; but a stranger is received in every house when he offers to bear a part of the expenses." Fowls, turkeys, and all kinds of poultry are exported to the continent by the lower classes; and the island is celebrated for its beautiful parrots and other curious birds, which are so much esteemed, that scarcely any trading ves sels leave the place without carrying away some of them. They fabricate cotton stockings, and hammocks of a very superior quality. The fisheries produce the principal object of trade at Margarita: they are placed at the islet of Coche, which belongs to Government. Two merchants of Margarita had the privilege of this fishery in 1807; and they carried it on at Coche. The men who were employed in it were Indians of Margarita. It was not freely, but by order of Government, that those natives worked in the fishery at the scanty pay of a real (fivepence) per day, and bread of maize or cassava. They ate also as much fresh or salt fish as they chose. More than three hundred Indians of both sexes and all ages were employed there in 1807. The quantities of fish caught are incredible. Twice a-day they draw a seine of two hundred feet long; and it seldom happens that at each drag they have not at least ten to twelve quintals of fish. This net sometimes contains so many, that they are obliged to cut the meshes in order to let some of the fish escape, which they are unable to haul on shore. It would be too tedious to describe the different kinds which are taken. The most common is the mullet of the Caribbean Islands, which the Spaniards call lisas: this fish resembles the herring. The salt works would be lucrative objects for Margarita, if salt were not so very cheap in all those countries. A barrel of salt not purified, weighing about three hundred pounds, is sold for about twelvepence-halfpenny at Margarita. SECTION VIII. PROVINCE OF MARACAIBO. MARACAIBO, or Maracaybo, surrounds the lake of the same name, It is bounded, on the west, by Santa Marta in New Grenada; on the east, by Coro and Venezuela; on the north, by Santa Marta and the Gulf of Maracaibo; and on the south, by Merida, and Santa Marta. Owing to the great extent of the lake, this pro vince extends but a short distance inland to the east and west its length is about 100 leagues. The soil of Maracaibo is unfruitful on the banks of the lake. The east shore is dry and unhealthy; and, on the west shore, the land does not begin to be fertile for more than twenty-five leagues south of the city. South of the lake, the country may vie with the richest lands of South America. The climate of the province is in general hot and unhealthy, excepting in the southern parts, which border on the snowy mountains of Merida. The population of the province of Maracaibo was, in 1807, 174,000 persons. Near the borders of the lake, on the west, are the only parts of this province which are cultivated, where, notwithstanding the heat of the climate, and the insalubrity of the air, some whites have fixed their habitations to cultivate cacao, and other plants. These settlers are much scattered, and have a chapel placed in the centre, to which they all occasionally resort. There wants, as in so many other parts, only hands to render this province flourishing, and to furnish for annual exportation as many articles as two thousand vessels of three hundred tons each could load. The lake is navigable for vessels of any burden; but this advantage is sometimes rendered useless by a dangerous sand-bank across the narrow entrance, on which vessels drawing twelve feet water will occasionally ground. Several small rivers empty themselves into this Jake; but as the country is uninhabited excepting by Indians, and immediately on the shores, nothing is known with accuracy concerning them, the savage Goahiros from La Hacha preventing all access on the western side, and keeping the settlers in alarm. It was from the Indian towns, built on posts of iron-wood on the lake of Maracaibo, that the Spaniards gave the country the name of Venezuela, or Little Venice. Four of these are yet standing, the iron-wood on which they are founded becoming like a mass of stone, from the petrifying quality of the water. These villages are situate on the east part of the lake, at unequal distances from each other, and have a church, which is also built in the water on piles, and to which the inhabitants of all the villages resort. SECTION IX. THE CITY OF MARACAIBO. Irs chief town is the city of Maracaibo, in north latitude 10° 30', and west longitude 71° 46', on the western side of the strait which leads into the lake, at about six leagues from |