122

ROAD TO CARACCAS.

seen passing into hornblende-slate. At the foot of the promontory the sea throws on the beach rolled fragments of a granular mixture of hornblende and felspar, in which traces of quartz and pyrites are recognised. On the western declivity of that hill the gneiss is covered by a recent sandstone or conglomerate, in which are observed angular fragments of gneiss, quartz, and chlorite, magnetic sand, madrepores, and bivalve shells. The latitude of the cape is 10° 36′ 45′′; that of La Guayra is 10° 36′ 19′′, its longitude 67° 5′ 49′′.

The road from La Guayra to Caraccas resembles the passages over the Alps; but as it is kept in tolerable repair, it requires only three hours to go with mules from the port to the capital, and two hours to return. The ascent commences with a ridge of rocks, and is extremely laborious. In the steepest parts the path winds in a zigzag manner. At the Salto, or Leap, there is a crevice which is passed by a drawbridge, and on the summit of the mountain are fortifications. Half-way is La Venta (the Inn); beyond which there is a rise of 960 feet to Guayavo, which is not far from the highest part of the route. At the fort of La Cuchilla Humboldt was nearly made prisoner by some Spanish soldiers, whom he however contrived to pacify. Round the little inn several travellers were assembled, who were disputing on the efforts that had been made towards obtaining independence; on the hatred of the mulattoes against the free negroes and whites; the wealth of the monks; and on the difficulty of holding slaves in obedience. From Guayavo the road passes over a smooth table-land covered with alpine plants; and here is seen for the first time the capital, standing nearly 2000 feet lower, in a beautiful valley enclosed by lofty mountains.

The ridges between La Guayra and Caraccas consist of gneiss. On the south side the eminence, which bears the name of Avila, is traversed by veins

VENEZUELA.

123 of quartz, containing rutile in prisms of two or three lines in diameter. The gneiss of the intervening valley contains red and green garnets, which disappear when the rock passes into mica-slate. Near the cross of La Guayra, half a league distant from Caraccas, there were vestiges of blue copper-ore disseminated in veins of quartz, and small layers of graphite. Between the former point and the spring of Sanchorquiz were beds of bluish-gray primitive limestone, containing mica, and traversed by veins of white calcareous spar. In this deposite were found crystals of pyrites and rhomboidal fragments of sparry iron-ore.

CHAPTER XII.

City of Caraccas and surrounding District.

City of Caraccas-General View of Venezuela-Population-ClimateCharacter of the Inhabitants of Caraccas-Ascent of the Silla-Geological Nature of the District, and the Mines.

CARACCAS, the capital of the former captain-generalship of Venezuela, is more known to Europeans on account of the earthquakes by which it was desolated than from its importance in a political or commercial point of view. At the present day it is the chief city of a district of the same name, forming part of the republic of Colombia; though, at the time of Humboldt's visit, it was the metropolis of a Spanish colony which contained nearly a million of inhabitants, and consisted of New-Andalusia, or the province of Cuniana, New-Barcelona, Venezuela or Caraccas, Coro, and Maracaybo, along the coast; and in the interior, the provinces of Varinas and Guiana.

124

THREE DISTINCT ZONES.

In a general point of view Venezuela presents three distinct zones. Along the shore, and near the chain of mountains which skirts it, we find cultivated land; behind this, savannas or pasturages; and beyond the Orinoco, a mass of forests, penetrable only by means of the rivers by which it is traversed. In these three belts, the three principal stages of civilization are found more distinct than in almost any other region. We have the life of the wild hunter in the woody district-the pastoral life in the savannas-and the agricultural in the valleys and plains which descend to various parts of the coast. Missionaries and a few soldiers occupy advanced posts on the southern frontiers. In this section are felt the preponderance of force and the abuse of power. The native tribes are engaged in perpetual hostilities; the monks endeavour to augment the little villages of their missions by availing themselves of the dissensions of the Indians; and the soldiers live in a state of war with the clergy. In the second division, that of the plains and prairies, where food is extremely abundant, little advance has been made in civilization, and the inhabitants live in huts partly covered with skins. It is in the third district alone, where agriculture and commerce are pursued, that society has made any progress.

In following our travellers through these interesting countries, it is necessary that we lose sight in some measure of the present constitution of the South American states, and view them simply as Spanish provinces. When we seek, says Humboldt, to form a precise idea of those vast regions, which for ages have been governed by viceroys and captains-general, we must fix our attention on several points. We must distinguish the parts of Spanish America that are opposite to Asia, and those that are washed by the Atlantic,-we must observe where the greatest part of the population is placed, whether near the coast, or in the interior, or on the table-lands of the

POPULATION OF VENEZUELA.

125

Cordilleras, we must determine the numerical proportions between the natives and other inhabitants, and examine to what race, in each part of the colonies, the greater number of whites belong. The inhabitants of the different districts of the mothercountry preserve in some measure their moral peculiarities in the New World, although they have undergone various modifications depending upon the physical constitution of their new abode.

In Venezuela, whatever is connected with an advanced state of civilization is found along the coast, which has an extent of more than two hundred leagues. It is washed by the Caribbean Sea, a kind of Mediterranean, on the shores of which almost all the European nations have founded colonies, and which communicates at several points with the Atlantic Ocean. Possessing much facility of intercourse with the inhabitants of other parts of America, and with those of Europe, the natives have acquired a great degree of knowledge and opulence.

The Indians constitute a large proportion of the agricultural residents in those places only where the conquerors found regular and long-established governments, as in New Spain and Peru. In the province of Caraccas, for example, the native population is inconsiderable, having been in 1800 not more than one-ninth of the whole, while in Mexico it formed nearly one-half. The black slaves do not exceed one-fifteenth of the general mass, whereas in Cuba they were in 1811 as one to three, and in other West India islands still more numerous. In the seven United Provinces of Venezuela there were 60,000 slaves; while Cuba, which has but oneeighth of the extent, had 212,000. The blacks of these countries are so unequally distributed, that in the district of Caraccas alone there were nearly 40,000, of which one-fifth were mulattoes. Humboldt estimates the creoles, or Hispano-Americans,

126

CITY OF CARACCAS.

at 210,000 in a population of 900,000, and the Europeans, not including troops, at 12,000 or 15,000.

Caraccas was then the seat of an audiencia, or high court of jusfice, and one of the eight archbishoprics into which Spanish America was divided. Its population in 1800 was about 40,000. In 1766 great devastation was made by the small-pox, from 6000 to 8000 individuals having perished; but since that period inoculation has become general. In 1812 the inhabitants amounted to 50,000, of which 12,000 were destroyed by the earthquakes; while the political events which succeeded that catastrophe reduced their number to less than twenty thousand,

The town is situated at the entrance of the valley of Chacao, which is ten miles in length, eight and a half miles in breadth, and about 2660 feet above the level of the sea. The ground occupied by it is a steep uneven slope. It was founded by Diego de Losada in 1567. Three small rivers descending from the mountains traverse the line of its direction; it contained eight churches, five convents, and a theatre capable of holding 1500 or 1800 persons. The streets were wide, and crossed each other at right angles; the houses spacious and lofty.

The small extent of the valley, and the proximity of the mountains of Avila and the Silla, give a stern and gloomy character to the scenery, particularly in November and December, when the vapours accumulate towards evening along the high grounds; in June and July, however, the atmosphere is clear and the air pure and delicious. The two rounded summits of the latter are seen from Caraccas, nearly under the same angle of elevation as the Peak of Teneriffe is observed from Orotava. The first half of the ascent is covered with grass; then succeeds a zone of evergreen trees; while above this the rocky masses rise in the form of domes destitute of vegetation. The cultivated region below forms an