For obvious reasons the central region of Venezuela, round about the capital, is that most frequently visited by Europeans, and generally even those travellers who, at the call of science, commerce, or pleasure, penetrate to other parts of the country first come into contact with it at La Guaira, the chief port of the republic.

The first settlement in the neighbourhood was established some eight miles to the westward, and was known as Caraballeda, the present town being founded in 1588, shortly after the seat of government was removed from Coro to Carácas. Standing as it does on a narrow strip of more or less level land, at the foot of the cordillera which here rises from the water’s edge to the height of about 5,000 feet, and extending up the precipitous slopes of the bare mountain, the town is terribly hot at times. In early days the roadstead must have been very unsafe, for the swell running on this coast at all seasons prevents secure anchorage outside the harbour.

The existing port works belong to an English company, and cost £980,000 to complete; and even so, the rise and fall from the swell is merely reduced, not neutralised. The contract for the La Guaira harbour was given to Messrs. Punchard & Co., who decided, in view of the fact that the roadstead was open to the waves to north and east only, that a straight east and west breakwater would prove most effective. The length of this was to be 2,050 feet, and the design allowed for the enclosure of 90 acres of water of an average depth of 30 feet, 3,100 feet of quays, and 18 acres of reclaimed land. There are seldom severe wind-storms, and the strong swell with the resulting huge waves which break upon the coast were the principal difficulties to be met. Unfortunately, as we have said, the movement is not entirely kept back by the breakwater. The work was commenced in December, 1885, but the first breakwater was destroyed by a particularly heavy swell in December, 1887; the second was commenced in July, 1888, and finally completed, more or less as it stands to-day, in July, 1891.

A railway runs through the town from the suburb of Maiquetia, about a mile and a half westwards, to the fashionable watering-place of Macuto, three miles in the opposite direction. Here there is an esplanade, gardens, and sea-baths, and as the coast, in contrast to La Guaira, faces the direction of the prevalent winds, climatic conditions are pleasant. In the season this Brighton of Venezuela is full of visitors.

Through La Guaira passes out the greater part of the produce of the “Centro,” and much from other parts of the country, the principal exports being coffee, cacao, cotton, hides, gold, rubber, pearls, feathers (egrets’), and alpargatas (sandals). There are factories turning out cigars, cigarettes, hats, boots, and other articles for home consumption; and at La Guaira the French cable enters the sea. Near Punta Caraballeda there is the big Juan Diaz sugar-mill of Messrs. Boulton, surrounded by bright green cane plantations; but save coconut-palms, little of value grows along the greater part of this coast near the shore.

The narrow street behind the quay is chiefly occupied by botiquins, some with abundant tropical and temperate fruits of which cooling refrescos can be made, with green milk-coconuts and barrels of diluted guarapo (sugar syrup) at a centimo a tumbler—not the pleasantest to an unaccustomed palate but probably the most effective of Venezuelan thirst-quenchers. After the hot sun on the quay the little tables under the trees look particularly inviting, though it is only fair to say that the unkempt appearance of this small fore street is more likely to strike the new-comer than the more pleasant matters.

Communication with the capital is carried on by rail and road, the former carrying the express freight, though the loaded donkeys and mules leaving Maiquetia before sunrise show that the railway is not without competition. The road is well engineered, and is about twenty-five miles in length; the unmacadamised surface is, however, little used for wheel-traffic. In a straight line Carácas is about eight miles from La Guaira, but stands 3,000 feet above the port, and is separated from it by a mountain range 5,000 feet high, over which climbs the old Spanish paved road.

The British-built and owned La Guaira-Carácas railway accomplishes the climb in about 23 miles, the ruling gradient being 1 in 27 to the head of the pass at 3,200 feet, whence it descends 200 feet to the city. The chief feature of the line is the small radius of the curves, some of which are so sharp that it has been said that the guard at the rear of the train can whisper to the driver. For much of the distance there is a splendid view over the Caribbean, and as the line climbs higher up into the gorge the train is often only a few feet from the edge of precipices, with a vertical drop in some cases of over a thousand feet. De Lesseps said that there was only one dangerous part of the line, but that that extended from La Guaira to Carácas. The whole is a fine piece of engineering, and, notwithstanding the theoretical risks, there has never been an accident to a passenger train, thanks to the energetic management and splendid system of vigilantes, or watchmen, ever on the lookout for landslips as well as for faults in the permanent way.

Carácas stands on the north bank of the River Guaire, on the inner slope of the coastal cordillera. The northern part of the city is thus higher than the southern. Founded in 1567 by Diego de Losada, its equable climate at the elevation of 3,000 feet and the fertile valley in which it lay soon attracted the Government away from Coro, on the hot, barren plains near the Gulf of Venezuela. The minimum temperature recorded in an average year may be as low as 48° F. (this, of course, at night), but, in general, days and nights are mild, and only in the middle of the year is the air uncomfortably warm at any time of the day. The population was estimated as 90,000 in 1904, and suburbs bring the total to over 100,000. It would be obviously unfair to institute a comparison between a city of this size and any of the better known capitals of Spanish-American republics, but, considered purely on its own merits, the capital of Venezuela has much to commend it, and undoubtedly exerts a peculiar fascination over most of those who visit it.

The streets are narrow, though the one-storey buildings make this hardly noticeable, and are paved in the outer parts of the city with cobbles, in the centre with cement. Though most of the private or business houses have one storey only, this does not apply to the public edifices, and the distribution of these is as casual as in London. As is usual, the principal square or plaza occupies the centre of the town, and round it are grouped the cathedral, Federal Government offices, Palace of Justice, Archbishop’s palace, the Casa Amarilla (containing the archives), the G.P.O., and the principal hotel (the Klindt) of the city. The centre of the plaza gardens is occupied by an equestrian statue of Bolivar in bronze. The Capitol is south-west of the Plaza Bolivar, and is a large building in semi-Moorish style, divided by a central patio into two main portions. The southern part is occupied by the two Chambers of the Legislature, while the northern houses the Executive. Part of the Executive Palace, as it is called, is occupied by the Salón Elíptico, containing portraits of famous patriots and statesmen of Venezuela, conspicuous among the dark-haired Spanish or Venezuelan types being the Irishman O’Leary. The dome is decorated with a picture of the battle of Carabobo, and the roofs of the wings with representations of those of Pinchincha and Boyacá, while to the east is a large picture of the Congress of Angostura. The offices of the various departments are on the first floor. Among the remaining buildings of note we may mention the University, an imitation-freestone gothic structure south of the Capitol, the Municipal Theatre, the Pantheon, and the presidential residence (Miraflores).

On the hill of El Calvario west of the city is the Observatory and the Independencia Park, from which a fine view of the city can be had in the afternoon. On the south of the Guaire, which is crossed by two bridges, is the Paraiso drive, with the villas of some of the wealthier residents. Here the society of Carácas drives just before sunset, and we may note, in passing, that the cabs (generally hooded victorias or small landaus) are remarkably cheap and good. One carries a walking-stick when driving to con the coachman, a tap on the right arm meaning a turn in that direction, a poke in the middle of the back “stop,” and so on. Not far from the plaza on the one hand and the Municipal Theatre on the other is the restaurant “La India,” where the youth of Carácas indulge in cakes and ale in the mornings, and chocolate (which is excellent), or less innocuous liquids after the theatre. Tea, or at least afternoon tea, is uncommon in Carácas as yet, though a growing British colony may change matters in that respect. An enumeration of the plazas and monuments could be of little service, and still less a list of the various hospitals and charitable institutions, of which there are many. On the practical side, however, it is worth noting that Carácas has two public slaughterhouses in different parts of the city.

The water supply is mainly derived from the River Macarao, about fifteen miles west of the town, whence it is brought by an aqueduct to El Calvario and there filtered; there are also reservoirs for the north of the city, deriving their supply from the streams of the Silla de Carácas. There is an excellent service of trams and telephones, both started and controlled by Britishers, and the electric supply for the former as well as for lighting the city is derived from the falls of El Encantado and Los Naranjos, on the Guaire below Carácas. A new plant is shortly to be erected at Mamo. The city also boasts a brewery, foundry, and factories for furniture-making, cigarettes, matches, &c. The remarks made in reference to the trade of La Guaira apply equally to the capital, for practically all the merchandise of the one passes first through the other.

The bottom of the Guaire Valley near Carácas constitutes economically the most important part of the Federal district, for the inner slope of the Cordillera here supports only small forest or grass, while the more accessible parts of the seaward flank are barren and useless. The sugar plantations of Juan Diaz have already been mentioned, but in the neighbourhood of Carácas there are, or were, many of these, even though the climate is sufficiently cool to have allowed the cultivation of wheat in earlier days, when the Spaniards found it, as might the Venezuelans, less costly than importation. There are fine coffee plantations also in the neighbourhood of Carácas, and the elevation would point to this as one of the best coffee districts of the country; indeed, the yield obtained on some haciendas here is said to have been as much as twenty pounds to the tree.

East and south of the Federal District lies the State of Miranda, including all the hills to Cape Codera and the edge of the Llanos as far as Uchire. The capital is Ocumare del Tuy, though this is not the largest town. Its name at the time of its foundation in 1692 was Sabana de Ocumare, but its proximity to the River Tuy led to the adoption of the present name as a distinction from Ocumare de la Costa. Coffee is grown on the hills in the neighbourhood, with cacao lower down, and sugar and beans in the valleys. The importance of the town is rather political than commercial at present, though the Central Railway may some time reach it and make a centre for the traffic from the Llanos, which lie southward.

Petare was the largest town in Miranda at the last census, having then a population of nearly 7,000. It was founded on the Guaire, some seven miles east of Carácas, in 1704, and is a locally important manufacturing town, turning out principally alpargatas, cigarettes, and starch, the last named made from yuca or manioc.

This town was the first terminus of the Central Railway of Venezuela, which was projected by Guzman Blanco to travel south-eastward from Carácas down the Guaire to its junction with the Tuy, then up the larger river westwards and down the Aragua to Valencia. At present it has only reached Santa Lucia, rather more than thirty miles from Carácas, and the direct German line has done away with the necessity of carrying it through to Valencia. The prosperous nature of the country under Guzman Blanco made the enterprise extremely promising, but the long series of revolutions and counter-revolutions since his day have kept the freight down to a minimum. Better days may be in store for the line, however, when the owners of the rich coffee, cocoa, and sugar lands which it taps rise to their opportunities, and an extension to Ocumare should bring it an ever-increasing amount of traffic in the produce of the Llanos.

All the way along the Valley of the Guaire the hills are, in the season, white with the coffee-bloom, and the small patches of yuca, maize, and bananas may yet become big and profitable plantations. Beyond Santa Lucia the Guaire joins the Tuy, and here, in a broad, flat-bottomed valley full of sugar and cacao, stands Santa Teresa.

If we follow down the fertile valley of the Tuy we come at length to the barren, sandy stretch along the coast and its fringe of mangroves, where we encounter the second railway (a rather primitive affair) in the State.

The line crosses the river at right angles, and connects the port of Carenero with the little town of Higuerote, a few miles to the south, and with the flourishing manufacturing town of Rio Chico, south of the Tuy; beyond them it is continued to Guapo, on the way to the Llanos of Guárico. Rio Chico is therefore about twenty-four miles by rail from its port, even though the open sea is but four miles away. Here we are down at sea-level, and the mean annual temperature is 82° F. Its position at the edge of the rich alluvium of the Tuy brings it large quantities of coffee, cocoa, beans, and maize, which are easily transmitted by rail to Carenero, and thence conveyed in little schooners or steamers to La Guaira for use in the country or for export. More important to its welfare are the cattle of the Llanos, whose hides are similarly passed on through Carenero to La Guaira, while the carcasses provide the raw material for the manufacture of soap and candles, which, with the making of alpargatas, constitutes the chief industry of the town.

Returning to Santa Teresa, we can traverse the plantations to Ocumare, the capital, and beyond to Cúa, named after a famous Indian cacique. Beyond this there are no towns of importance east of the State boundary, but a road over the watershed leads to Los Teques, at the head of the Guaire. This stands at a considerably greater altitude than Carácas, and is chiefly of importance to-day as a health resort, though when Faxardo first visited the Indians after whom the place is named, in the sixteenth century, he was attracted by the copper-mines of the district, now no longer worked.

Los Teques is the first town of importance on the Great Venezuelan Railway (a German line) west of Carácas, but it is the last in the State of Miranda. The train climbs up a picturesque gorge to Los Teques, then passes through a tunnel, and begins to cross by equally picturesque loops and zigzags the head of the Tuy, finally dropping down into the fertile valley of Aragua, from which the next State takes its name. The western terminus of the line is Valencia, but the first large town reached is La Victoria (much beloved of ex-President Castro), the capital of Aragua.

All along the line are evidences of the agriculture and sylvan wealth of the land, in coffee and sugar-plantations, and patches of forest of valuable timber. La Victoria is a well-built, handsome town. It was founded in 1593 and had a population of over 14,000 at the last census. The barracks form an imposing block of buildings, and there are factories on a small scale for cigarettes, paper, sandals, boots and shoes, and candles. The tobacco and wood for the two first come from plantations and forests close at hand, and the considerable traffic from the Llanos, as well as the pasture-lands of the Aragua Valley farther west, supply the raw materials for the other articles. There is a mill here also which uses the cotton of the drier parts of the valley, near the Lake of Valencia. The railway, both before and after La Victoria, passes many cane plantations with small refineries and distilleries, turning out the raw sugar and spirit which constitute an important part of the trade of the town. A good deal of wheat used to be grown here, the fields producing as much as 3,000 pounds to the acre, a sixteen-fold return, which would surely pay well to-day, when the heavy duty on imported flour (about 1d. per lb.) is considered.

Maracay, also on the railway, near the east end of the Lake of Valencia, is in a splendid farming and stock-breeding country. There are rich grazing lands planted with pará grass, forest for timber, and coffee, sugar, indigo of excellent quality, and tobacco, as well as cotton, can be grown in the vicinity. The dairies of Maracay produce a famous cream-cheese, known by the name of the town throughout Venezuela, and the hogs of Maracay are very different from the skinny animals generally seen in the tropics. President Gomez has a ranch here, to which he retires whenever allowed a respite from cares of State.

South of Maracay at a distance of about fifteen miles is the main pass across the Serrania Interior to the Llanos, and in this pass stands the important town of Villa de Cura, founded in 1730. It is a well-built town, standing between two rivers flowing in opposite directions; the valley itself is dry compared to that of Aragua, but has many big cattle-ranches, so that here, as at Maracay, cheese and hides form the principal articles of commerce. Since it derives a certain amount of profit from the cacao and coffee of the mills near by, it forms in itself an epitome of the wealth of the State of Aragua, which, with its fertile valleys, combines the products of the hills and forests with those of the neighbouring Llanos.

The beautiful Lake of Valencia, with its many islands, lies partly in Aragua and partly in the neighbouring State of Carabobo. The dry, sandy shores are mainly utilised for cotton-growing, an industry which, like many others in Venezuela, has never received the attention which it deserves, because an ample return on capital can be had in a multitude of enterprises for a minimum expenditure of labour and forethought.

In Carabobo we begin to leave the more densely populated region of the Centro, and find something of the wildness of virgin territory away from the towns. Thus we have timber and dye-woods and uncultivated rubber exported as well as the products of the pastoral and agricultural industries.

The capital of the State is Valencia, once greater and more important than it is now, much of the produce of Aragua which formerly passed through the city being carried eastward by the Great Venezuelan Railway, while the Bolivar Railway now carries direct to and from Barquisimeto goods which in earlier days came in and passed out through Valencia. The industry of the inhabitants has saved the place from absolute decay, and the population at the last census was over 54,000.

As we have already seen, Valencia is connected with the capital by rail, and there is a cart-road for slow traffic, while the Telephone Company has a line as far as Puerto Cabello, passing through Valencia. For its internal comfort, the city has a good supply of water brought by aqueduct from the hills, tramways, electric light, hotels, and plazas. The public buildings include the State Capitol and Municipal Theatre, and there is a column in the Plaza Bolivar commemorating the battle on the campo from which the State takes its name. The large cotton-mills testify to an attempt to develop the resources of the neighbourhood; flour-mills and cigarette-factories deal with some of the produce of the fertile valleys to the west. Coffee, sugar, alcohol, live beasts and hides, with other agricultural products, all find their way to the markets of Valencia; nor should the marble quarries of the hills be forgotten, since the country may one day use more of its own ornamental stones in place of importing them over the high tariff wall.

Twenty-three miles westward from Valencia (which by the way, is unusually hot for its elevation) is the town of Montalbán, higher up in the hills, with a population of nearly 9,000. It was named after Montalbán in Aragon, and rejoices in a mean annual temperature of 73°F. On the fertile river banks the Montalbanians used once to grow excellent grapes, as well as wheat and indigo of fine quality. With the introduction of coffee in 1813, it was found more profitable to devote the land to that, and the cultivation of the fruit, for which it was formerly famous, has died out.

The river-valleys and mountain-slopes of Carabobo are often forest-covered, and wild rubber is sufficiently common to be collected. From all the western region of the State the produce of field and farm is brought by road to Valencia, and thence, if intended for export, sent down the English railway to Puerto Cabello.

This line was begun during the construction of that from La Guaira to Carácas, but presented in some respects a less difficult task, since the highest point to which it must rise to cross the watershed of the coastal cordillera is only 1,950 feet above the sea. The original scheme of ordinary traction was changed to include a short piece of 8 per cent. grade with a rack engine, working on a cogged centre rail, the rest of the descent is then easily accomplished.

Puerto Cabello has one of the best harbours in Venezuela, which possesses the additional merit of being entirely natural. The name is a witness to the excellence of the shelter, since the Spaniards changed Borburata to Cabello in token of the fact that in calm waters of the harbour a ship would be held with a hair (Sp. Cabello). On the outer side are the red iron-roofed buildings of the Venezuela Naval Dockyard, next door to the fortress, the submarine dungeons of which have too often been occupied by innocent men, both in colonial and republican times. Through Puerto Cabello is exported most of the produce of Carabobo, Yaracuy, and the Llano States of Cojedes and Portuguesa, with some from Lara, Trujillo, and Mérida. The new buildings of the Venezuela Meat Syndicate are near the station, an enterprise which seems likely, when once fairly started, to give Puerto Cabello an increasing importance, in addition to encouraging improvement in stock-farming. The various members of the staff make up a small English colony, who are largely responsible for the presence of English papers in the waterside club, a pleasant place to spend the sultry evenings.

Round about the port there are numbers of attractive villas and plantations, but the most fruitful land is in the neighbourhood of Ocumare, some twenty miles eastward along the coast. The town is situated near the mouth of a deep valley, and, but for the sea breezes, would be unbearably hot. As it is, the climate which would, untempered, be so unpleasant for men, is excellent for cocoa, and that of Ocumare has a deserved fame. From the higher lands behind come cattle and cereals to swell the trade of the town, whose population has increased greatly since the last census.

The agricultural resources of the “Centro” have received, as we have seen, a moderate share of attention, and if they are not developed to anything approaching a full extent, the region is nevertheless one in which less remains to be done than elsewhere in the republic. There are said to be “mines” of all manner of metals unworked as yet, particularly in the west, but without months of work by a mining engineer it would be impossible to verify such a statement. At present all that can be said is that it may be true, and perhaps some day the copper, silver, iron, and gold of the Centro will be established realities, and not mere words in “accusations” of territory for mining purposes.