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SECTION XXVI.

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PROVINCE OF VERAGUA.

THE northernmost of the provinces of Tierra Firme, is the province of Veragua, situate to the south of the kingdom of Guȧtimala, in North America. Veragua is actually situate in North America:

It is bounded on the north by the Caribbean Sea; on the east, by the province of Darien in South America, which is separated from Veragua by the ridge of Canatagua; on the west, by Costa Rica; and on the south, by the great Pacific Ocean.

Veragua is a mountainous, rugged country, covered with vast forests, beautifully interspersed by luxuriant and fertile valleys.

The heat of this province is very great, though meliorated by the rains which are constantly falling. Thunder storms, accompanied with frightful lightning, occur very frequently, and during these storms the torrents rush with impetuous and overwhelming force into the vales from the surrounding mountains.

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The Indians, the principal tribe of whom are called Doraces, live in the forests and mountains, and are only partially converted by the missionaries, who have founded some villages, where they reside with their flocks:

this has been accomplished only since the year 1760.

The woods abound with monkeys and wild animals.

The gold and silver mines of Veragua are not much wrought, owing to the rugged nature of the country in which they are situate; the only means they have to transport the produce over the mountains, when a mine is worked, being on the backs of the natives. The labour and expense attendant on this mode of carrying the ores to be smelted, render the working of the mines, though they are very rich, almost impracticable,

The capital is VERAGUA, or SAN JAGO DE VERAGUA, a handsome town, situate in a moist and warm climate.

It has a fine hospital, founded by the friars.. Its inhabitants are partly Spaniards, partly Mulattoes.

It is surrounded by a small district; which produces Indian corn, a root called yuca, of which they make bread, and plantains.. Cattle and hogs are here also very numerous.

The Indians in the vicinity dye their cottons, manufactured by themselves, with the juice of a shell-fish found at the Bay of Salinas in Costa Rica, and on the coast of Veragua, affording a rich and delicate purple. With this juice, and with gold, which they find in the hills, they carry on a trade with Panama and Guatimala.

Veragua is famed as having been the country where the first European colony was attempted to be planted by Columbus on the continent of America. This happened on the 24th of February 1503; but after building a fort and constructing some houses, they found themselves unable to resist the attacks of the İn→ dians; and from this and other circumstances, Columbus resolved to embark the colony; which he accordingly did.

This city has fourteen villages under the ju risdiction of its magistrates.

1. The next city is NUESTRA SENORA DE LOS REMEDIOS, or PUEBLA NUEVA, inhabited by Spaniards and their descendants.

2. SANTIAGO EL ANGEL, or ALANGI, is the third city of Veragua, and was founded by Benito Hurtado, governor of Panama,

There are also several large villages, inha、 bited principally by the native Indians.

SECTION XXVII.

PROVINCE OF CHOCO.

THIS province is bounded on the north by Darien and Carthagena; on the west, by the Pacific, or district of Biriquite; on the east, by Antioquia; and on the south, by Popayan,

It is separated from the valley of the Cauca by the western chain of the Andes, which attains in this district the inferior altitude of about 5000 feet, and gradually diminishes in height towards the Isthmus of Darien.

The province of Choco is still a wide continuous forest, without trace of cultivation, road, or pasture.

It is inhabited chiefly by Negroes and persons connected with the mines; and the price of commodities is so great, that a barrel of flour from North America, sells at from L. 10 to L.15; the maintenance of a muleteer is from. five to seven shillings a-day; and iron is so dear, even in peace, owing to the great difficulty of carriage, that it is almost impossible to procure it.

The villages inhabited by the Negroes are Novita, Zitara, and Tado. The first settlers came hither in 1539, and it contains about 5000 persons at present.

The gold washings of most consequence are Novita, Zitara, and the river Andegada: all the ground between this river, the river San Juan, the river Tamana, and the river San Augustin, is auriferous. The largest piece of gold ever found in Choco weighed twenty-five pounds; but the Negro who discovered it did not even obtain his liberty. His master presented it to the King's cabinet, in hopes of obtaining a title; but it was with much difficulty

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that he even got the value of its weight,—a just punishment for not emancipating his slave. Ten thousand eight hundred marks of gold are the utmost annual produce of the washings of Choco, and the metal is generally about twentyone carats fine. Platina is chiefly found in this and the neighbouring province of Antioquia. It is in Choco and Barbacoas that this valuable metal is discovered only in grains, in the alluvious grounds between the second and sixth degrees of north latitude. In Choco, the ravine of Oro, between the villages of Novita and Tado, yields the greatest quantity; the price on the spot being about thirty-three shillings the pound.

In the interior of Choco, the ravine of the Raspadura unites the sources of the river Noanama, or San Juan, with the river Quito, which forms, with the Andegada and the Zitara, the considerable river Atrato. The river San Juan flows into the South Sea; and some years ago a monk of the village of Zitara caused his flock to dig a small canal in the ravine above mentioned, by which, when the rains are abundant, and the rivers overflow, canoes loaded with cacao pass from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. This communication has existed since 1788, unknown to even the Spaniards themselves; the distance of the mouths of the Atrato in the Bay of Panama, to the estuary of the river San Juan, being seventy-five leagues.

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