account no loss. It is true, that at Varinas are the plantations of almost all the tobacco which is exported, and that none goes out from other places but when the crops exceed the local consumption, for which they reserve all the best that is produced in the provinces. It is asserted at Caracas and Trinidad, that the tobacco grown in the neighbourhood of the town of Varinas, is subject to be damaged by a worm, which introduces itself into the roll, and reduces it to powder in a short time. failing, however, attributed to it for some years past in the Trinidad and Venezuela markets, no doubt proceeded from some accidental cause, or the negligence of those who prepared it.

The

The most remarkable features of this country are the extensive plains, of which it is mostly composed, and which are covered with a luxuriant herbage, feeding innumerable herds of cattle, flocks of sheep, and droves of mules and horses. These are either used in the province, or exported by means of the Orinoco.

The whole province of Varinas, on its western and northern parts, is covered with farms and small villages, mostly situate on the banks of the different rivers.

The inhabitants of this country lead a pastoral life: they indeed live in the pastures, surrounded with numerous herds. Though in the midst of abundance, great natural wealth, and all the necessaries of life, they have not

the means of purchasing any thing belonging to the luxury of dress, furniture, and European liquors; because they have no direct communication with the neighbouring colonies, and, being placed in the interior of the country, they are obliged to sell their produce and cattle at a miserable price, to the smugglers of Angostura and of Caracas. But when the effects of the present contest terminate, and freedom of trade follows, it will become one of the richest and best peopled in this part of the world; for in general its climate is no less healthy than its soil is fertile.

The commodities of Varinas are exported chiefly by water to Guiana; the place of embarkation being at a spot called Torunos, five leagues below the city.

A road leads from the plains of Calobozo in Venezuela, through San Fernando de Apure, and across the rivers, to the junction of the Meta with the Orinoco.

SECTION XIV.

THE CITY OF VARINAS, &c.

THE capital of Varinas is the city of Varinas. It is situate in 7° 33′ of latitude, and 70° 22′ west longitude from the meridian of Greenwich.

The city enjoys a tolerably pure air, though the thermometer of Reaumur is seldom below twenty-four degrees.

It is a neat little place, with one church, and an hospital.

The town of Variñas had, in 1787, a population of twelve thousand inhabitants.

1. SAN JAYME is situate on the west bank of the Portuguesa, above its junction with the Guanaparo and the Apure, in 7° 50′ north latitude, on a sand hill. It is seventy-five leagues south of Caracas. The city, surrounded by large rivers, has for its defence from their annual inundations nothing but a hillock of sand, upon which it is placed. The inhabitants find themselves for three months of the year so environed by water, that they can neither return to nor leave their houses except in canoes.

The edifices of the city, including the church, correspond exactly with the feeble resources the inhabitants find in a soil so little favoured by nature.

San Jayme contains seven thousand persons. The soil, sandy and dry, offers to the cultivator no flattering prospect.

2. SAN FERNANDO DE APURE is erected on the south bank of the Apure, near its junction with the Portuguesa, in 7° 53′ north latitude.

The climate is hot, but healthy; the water is excellent.

The city, without being large, is tolerably well built.

The population is almost six thousand per

sons.

The property of almost all the inhabitants is in common fields, and breeding farms for cattle and mules. They cultivate very few articles.

The situation of San Fernando, on a large navigable river, near the mouth of another river that traverses the whole province of Varinas, is extremely advantageous for trade. Every production of that province, hides, cacao, cotton, and the indigo of Mijagual, which is of the first quality, pass through this town toward the mouths of the Orinoco. During the season of rains, large vessels go from Angostura up as far as San Fernando de Apure, and by the Rio Santo Domingo as far as Torunos, the port of the town of Varinas.

At the period of the rains, the inundations of the rivers, which form a labyrinth of branches between the Apure, the Arauca, the Capanaparo, and the Sinaruco, cover a country of nearly four hundred square leagues. At this point, the Orinoco, turned aside from its course, not by neighbouring mountains, but by the rising of counter-slopes, runs toward the east, instead of following its ancient direction in the line of the meridian. Considering the surface of the globe as a polyhedron, formed of planes variously inclined, we may conceive

by the mere inspection of. the maps, that the intersection of these slopes, rising toward the north, the west, and the south,* between San Fernando de Apure, Caycara, and the mouth of the Meta, must cause a considerable depression. The savannahs in this basin are covered with twelve or fourteen feet of water; and present, at the period of the rains, the aspect of a great lake. The farms and,villages, placed on a sort of shoals, scarcely rise two or three feet above the surface of the water. Every thing here recalls to mind the inundations of Lower Egypt, and the Lake of Xarayes, heretofore so celebrated among geographers, though it exists only during some months of the year. The swellings of the rivers Apure, Meta, and Orinoco, are also periodical. In the rainy season, the horses that wander in the savannahs, and have not time to reach the rising grounds of the Llanos, perish by hundreds. The mares are seen followed by their colts, swimming during a part of the day to feed upon the grass, the tops of which alone wave above the waters. In this state they are pursued by the croco

*The risings toward the north and the west are connected with two lines of ridges, the mountains of Villa de Cura and of Merida. The third slope, running from north to south, is that of the land strait, between the Andes and the chain of Parime. It determines the general inclination of the Orinoco, from the mouth of the Guaviare to that of the Apure.