inconvenience, because it is necessary to cross the plains of Llonay, so unwholesome that the traveller is obliged to hasten his march not to be infected with the malignant fever, which the least stop is apt to give.

On the east side of Maracaibo Lake are several small towns, of which Gibraltar, Paruate, Las Barbacoas, and San Pedro, are the most considerable places.

2. GIBRALTAR, in 10° 4' north latitude, and 67° 36' west longitude, is 100 miles south-east of Maracaibo, and on the eastern banks of the lake.

It contains three thousand inhabitants.

The climate is very hot and insalubrious, especially during the rainy season, when the merchants and planters retire to Maracaibo or Merida.

Gibraltar is a very old town, famous for the production of a particular sort of tobacco, called tobacco of Maracaibo, from which the best sort of snuff, vulgarly called Maccabaw, is made.

The country in the vicinity of this town is well watered with rivers, and consequently grows excellent cacao. Cedars of immense size are found in its woods.

3. PARUATE is eighty miles south of Coro, and is a small place on the banks of the lake.

4. LAS BARBACOAS is situated a short distance farther south, and seventy-five miles south of Coro.

5. SAN PEDRO is a short distance south of Gibraltar, and also on the banks of the lake.

The other places, being mere villages, or scattered plantations, are not worth mentioning.

SECTION XI.

PROVINCE OF GUIANA, OR SPANISH GUAYANA.

THIS immense province extends from the. frontiers of Juan de los Llanos and Quixos, in Cundinamarca, to the frontiers of British, French, and Portuguese Guiana. It is bounded, on the north, by the Orinoco and the plains of Cumana, Barcelona, and Caracas; on the east, by unknown lands between the settlements of the English and French; on the west, by the Orinoco and the provinces of New Grenada; and, on the south, by the Portuguese possessions. It has been computed to be 1000 leagues in circumference.

The precise boundaries of this country cannot be laid down. On the west it is said to extend to the western mouth of the river Yapura, proceeding thence almost due north. On the east it has, from Cape Nassau, a shore of thirty leagues, to the mouth of the Orinoco; and thence along that river to the Rio Portuguesa,

an extent of more than 400 leagues. The Portuguese territories on the south, were formerly bounded by a line passing under the equator; but they have since acquired more settlements to the north, in the western parts of Guiana.— The most southern fort is that of San Carlos, or the Rio Negro, in 1° 53′ north latitude.

The

The rivers flowing through Guiana which are best known, are the Orinoco, into which, on the north, the Caroni, the Aruy, the Caura, and several smaller ones empty themselves; on the west, the Suapure, the Sippapu, &c. join that stream; while, on the south, the Guaviare, the Ynritta, and the Atabapo, also add to the magnificence of its course. Rio Negro also flows through a part of Guiana, and forms, by means of the Cassiquiari, a junction between the Marañon and the Orinoco, thus constituting Guiana an immense island, detached in every direction by a broad expanse of water from the continent of South America. The Yapura and the Uapes run through the southern or continental parts of this province, and join the Marañon, Many large rivers issue from or rise near Lake Parima and the interior, of which Rio Blanco and the Siabo are the most noted; but as the lake itself, and all the surrounding country, are as unknown as the internal parts of Africa, it will be useless to repeat names that are gathered from maps, often imaginary, and generally er

roneous.

Guiana is subdivided into Upper and Lower Guiana, the capital being the point of separation. But this honour would more justly belong to the river Caroni.

Upper Guiana comprehends all the country west of the Caroni. Few plantations are seen there, though the soil is rich beyond imagination.

Lower Guiana is east of the Caroni, or in the space bounded by the sea on the east, the Orinoco on the north, the Caroni on the west, and the Essequibo on the south. A more fertile soil cannot be found, watered by numerous rivers, whose periodic overflowings deposit a slime as prolific as that of the Nile; but this fine district is nearly a waste, harbouring anthropophagical tribes, of whom the Caribs are the most formidable as well as sanguinary..

The indigenous inhabitants of Guiana amount to about thirty thousand, of whom fifteen thousand are united in missions. The others, such as the Arroakas and Guaraons, are independent, and have not embraced Christianity. It is estimated, that there are eight thousand whites dispersed in the villages and huts in the remainder of the province, about six thousand Mestizoes or free people of colour, and about three thousand Negroes. The population of the capital, San Tomé, being eight thousand five hundred persons, makes a grand total of fifty-two thousand.

The riches of the few Spaniards and Creoles settled in this province consists in cattle, of which the missionary Franciscans alone possess more than 150,000 head.

The trade of Guiana consists entirely in the export of cattle and mules, with some tobacco, cotton, and indigo; and, in 1803, they had thirty-four small vessels employed in trading to Trinidad and the neighbouring Spanish ports.

In later times, the Spaniards have endeavoured to conquer the regions between the Orinoco and the Marañon, but have always been unsuccessful. One has had the courage to cross the greater part of the country in the dress of an Indian; and from his researches, the direction of the ranges of mountains has been ascertained. Humboldt also contrived to go a great distance along the chain of the cataracts, but was prevented from exploring the sources of the Orinoco and the celebrated Lake of Parima by the Guayecas, a race of Indians, who, though of very diminutive stature, display the utmost courage and activity in defending their possessions. These people resist all persuasion to become the converts of the monks who have visited their frontiers, and equally defy the armed force which generally accompanies these. priests.