The llanos of northern South America form one of the remarkable great plains of the world. They stretch from the Orinoco Delta in the east right to the Cordillera of the Andes in the west.

The foothills and highlands on the south side of the coastal range limit them in the north, and where the continuity of the mountain chain is broken, near Barcelona, they reach the coast itself.

The Orinoco constitutes their southern boundary as far west as its junction with the Apure. Beyond this point the course of the Orinoco is from south to north instead of from west to east, and out west of this the great plains stretch away to the south far beyond the southern boundary of Venezuela. In fact, formerly the settlers in the Venezuelan llanos, who knew of the Argentine pampas and their cattle industry away somewhere to the south of them, but had vague notions of geography and no knowledge of the high country in central South America, believed that the llanos went right away south to Patagonia.

The stretches of plain from the south of Cumaná, Barcelona, and Carácas down to the Orinoco are called the llanos of Cumaná, Barcelona, and Carácas respectively, while the extreme west corner is known as the llanos of Barinas.

Near the northern and western limits of this great plain there is a gradual passage from the foothills and the adjoining broken country to the plain, but once away in the interior the flatness of the llanos is remarkable. There are neither the undulations of rolling prairie-lands nor the sandhills and ridges of the desert. The mountains can, of course, be seen for a considerable distance, and to fully realise the curious effect of the llanos it is necessary to be out of sight of them.

In some places nothing, not even a tree, can be seen in any direction but the flat plain, covered with short grass; the traveller has the illusion of being on the ocean stretching in every direction to the horizon, and it is very easy to get lost if he leaves a beaten track.

The llanos are not, however, absolutely level; there are flat banks of slight elevation (a few feet) called bancos, only to be observed at their edges, and extending for miles, and also mesas, convexities gently, almost imperceptibly, rising to a very moderate height, and yet sufficiently important to form water divides.

A glance at the map shows that in the llanos south of Carácas the streams flow right across Venezuela, from the hills to the Orinoco or its tributaries, and, in fact, the whole of the western llanos are very gently inclined to the south-east, but in the eastern part of the llanos south of Cumaná we see a water divide, the Rivers Tigre and Guanipa flowing eastwards to the Delta, and farther west a number of rivers flowing into the Orinoco, while north of the divide various streams, the Aragua, the Unare, and others, empty themselves into the sea west of Barcelona, this being due, not to a range of hills but to the convexity of the plains, the mesas of Tigre, Guanipa, &c.

It is hard to understand that lack of water is one of the difficulties besetting the traveller on the llanos when one sees the network of streams indicated on the maps. In the wet season there is of course plenty of water, but in the dry season most of these tributary streams cease to flow. Those which take their rise in the hilly country have, indeed, some water in their upper courses all the time, while in their lower part water from the main streams, the Orinoco, the Apure, the Portuguesa, and others, is able to back a good way up, on account of their very gentle fall, but their middle courses run quite dry, pools remaining here and there in the hollows. The water in these gets somewhat foul, but by digging in the sand in their neighbourhood sweeter water may be obtained. The River Guárico, which partly dries up in this way, is said formerly to have flowed all the year round. It takes its rise near Lake Tacarigua (Lake of Valencia), and perhaps the diminution of its water supply is due to the same cause as the shrinking of that lake, the cutting down of forest and the cultivation of land near its source. In the wet season many of the streams overflow and flood wide areas, the cattle having to take refuge on slightly higher tracts. When the waters again retire many alligators and water-snakes bury themselves in the mud, and one hears of people being startled by sudden upheavals of the ground, followed by the emergence of some disturbed monster. In one case a traveller settled for a night in a hut which had been flooded the previous season, and the barking of the dogs awoke a huge alligator, who heaved up the floor, made a dash at the dogs, and then fled into the open.

Referring once again to the fact of the water in the main streams backing up the tributaries, so very slight is the inclination of the western plains, and so small the fall of its streams, that swelling of the Orinoco, or wind pressure, will force the water to flow up the tributaries, whirlpools forming where the opposing currents meet.

Humboldt states that under these conditions many natives firmly believed that in travelling up these streams in their canoes they were really descending for a considerable distance.

Apart from the change of season from wet to dry, the great factor in the climate of the llanos is the trade wind, which blows across from the east to the west. The sandy ground, thinly covered with grass, becomes very hot in the daytime and heats the air near it. In the east the trade wind, arriving fresh from the sea, lessens this effect, and makes the air pleasant, but as it sweeps across the hundreds of miles of burning soil it becomes itself heated, and as it gets farther west adds to the discomfort, instead of correcting it.

In fact, the western llanos are very hot, and although there is a twelve-hours night in which to cool, there is so much heat to be radiated off from the earth that when dawn, the coolest moment, arrives very little diminution of temperature has been attained, and the heating process begins again.

The llanos, then, are neither prairie nor desert, but hold rather an intermediate position, varying towards one or the other according to the season. Various grasses suitable for feeding live stock grow here, and there are some trees, notably varieties of mimosas, one with sensitive leaves (dormideras) very good for cattle. There are also palms, notably the Corypa palms, or palmas de Cobija, with hard wood, which are good for building huts, their leaves being used for the roof, and the Moriche palm (Mauritia flexuosa), which, as already noticed, furnishes nearly all the necessities of life to the Guarauno Indians of the Delta.

The llanos originally contained deer, the river swine or capybara (chiguire), and the jaguar, also wild ducks and geese. In 1548 Cristobal Rodriguez started sending cattle into the plains to multiply. In Humboldt’s time the live stock were estimated at 1,200,000 oxen, 180,000 horses, and 90,000 mules. Wars and diseases have at different times interrupted their increase. Horses, asses, and mules were abundant and cheap up to 1843, when a pestilence destroyed nearly all the wild ones, the loss being estimated at between six and seven million beasts.

The cattle are believed to have decreased between the years 1863-73 from 5,000,000 to 1,400,000, but by 1888 were estimated at 8,500,000 again.

Cattle-breeding should be a great and important industry for Venezuela, and it is to be hoped that it will be put on a better footing before long. An up-to-date factory for killing and chilling meat has been established at Puerto Cabello, and the first shipment took place in 1910.

One of the chief difficulties this industry has to contend with is the loss of condition the cattle sustain on their journeys to the port from distant ranches. There are, however, plenty of outlets from the llanos, for the southern part, the Orinoco, and for the west, central, and eastern parts, Puerto Cabello, Barcelona, and Caño Colorado, the port of Maturín.

Most of the cattle in the llanos are in a half-wild state. It is rather melancholy to find that in country towns surrounded by vast areas of pasture-land milk and butter are often difficult to procure; in fact, a lot of imported butter is used. The calves generally get all the milk, and the cows are so unused to being milked for the benefit of mankind that it is necessary to bring the calf and tie it to the mother’s leg and allow it to begin the operation before the milkmen can do anything, the cow apparently being deluded into the idea that she is feeding the calf all the time. The farmers and llaneros in most parts seem surprised to hear that milking can be done in any other way.

This pastoral industry, like the others, has suffered from many causes, but the chief has been political unrest and internal wars. There is little doubt that if the country once settles down, as it now bids fair to do, and a feeling of security is established, the farmers will show more energy and increase their knowledge of their art, and in time the physical conditions of the vast plains may, nay, will, be gradually improved. Irrigation and the planting of trees, protecting them when young from the cattle, will bring this about. One would think that this process should be begun in the east and gradually worked westward. In the east the climate is pleasanter, and the prevailing east wind cool (not having passed over a hot, arid land surface), and as each strip of country is improved it would render easier the amelioration of the area immediately to the west of it. But all this requires capital, work, and patience, and men will not be found to undertake it as long as they have reason to fear that civil wars will prevent them enjoying the fruits of their labour.

The general physical description of the llanos applies to all the States named in the heading to this chapter. A glance at the map shows that the first six, Monágas to Zamora, actually constitute the east to west extension of the great plain, whilst Apure forms the beginning of the southerly extension, which, as already pointed out, stretches far beyond the boundaries of Venezuela.

The chief towns of the eastern llanos are Maturín, in Monágas, Barcelona and Aragua de Barcelona, in Anzoátegui. The northern part of these two States includes some of the highlands south of the Cumaná range, pleasant pastoral country with a good climate. The central part of the llanos is very hot, and arid in the dry season. Calabozo, in Guárico, and San Fernando de Apure are the two hottest places in the country, the latter having a mean annual temperature of 91°.

In the extreme west, as the Cordillera is approached, the heat diminishes, and the typical llano is often replaced by well-wooded country. The chief towns here are San Carlos, in Cojedes, Guanare, in Portuguesa, and Barinas, in Zamora, the last-named town not being much hotter than Maturín.

The town of Nueva Barcelona was founded in 1637 by Juan Urpin, at a spot some two leagues distant from its present site.

In 1671, in order to terminate the frequent quarrels between its inhabitants and those of a neighbouring settlement, Cumanagoto, the Governor, Angelo, united the two populations at the spot where Barcelona now stands. This shifting of towns and villages at the order of a Governor, or even a priest, was not uncommon in the colony in the early days.

Towards the end of the eighteenth century Barcelona grew considerably in importance. There was a large and growing demand in the Antilles, especially in Cuba, for meat to feed the slaves on the plantations and for horses and mules. The journey from the River Plate in sailing-ships was a very long one, and the Cuba merchants preferred to get their goods from the north coast. Barcelona’s position at the point where the llanos extend right to the coast, and where consequently there are no mountains to cross, gave her a big advantage over Cumaná and other seaports, and her trade and population grew rapidly. From 1790 to 1800 her population grew from 10,000 to 16,000. But it was in adversity that Barcelona was to become famous, and in 1817 she gained a crown of martyrdom, becoming the scene of one of the most tragic events in the history of South American independence.

Bolivar, after several encounters with the royalists in February, had left Barcelona to beat up recruits. The Captain-General, Juan de Aldama, having failed to intercept him, turned eastward to the doomed city, where he was joined by some troops from Cumaná and by some vessels of the fleet, which provided him with guns. A devoted band, consisting chiefly of Venezuelans, with some Colombians and a few foreigners, in all 600-700 fighting men, and some 300 civilians, women, and children, determined to resist to the last, and prepared to defend the convent of San Francisco, better known to history as the Casa Fuerte, which stands in an open space in the town.

Aldama’s sharpshooters having cleared the town, he invested the convent, placing ordnance on two sides of it and stationing troops on the far sides to prevent the escape of the garrison. He then invited the patriots to capitulate, promising to spare their lives, but they refused, and at dawn of April 10th he began the bombardment.

The Casa Fuerte was not strong enough to withstand his artillery, and at two in the afternoon a large breach had been effected. The royalists charged from cover across the open space round the convent, and a desperate fight ensued, the Venezuelans selling their lives very dearly. The walls of the room in which the last of the patriots died are still standing, and the stones are deeply scored all over from the blows of the weapons of men fighting in a confined space.

Aldama states in his official report to the King that he invited the garrison to capitulate before the bombardment, with a view to avoiding any unnecessary bloodshed and to demonstrate his Majesty’s clemency, but any humane intentions seem to have deserted the royalists during the day, for, not content with annihilating the combatants, who disdained to ask for quarter, nearly all the women and children were outraged and murdered. It is even said that Aldama gave orders to have the sick in the hospital butchered, but the officer to whom this task was deputed would not carry out his instructions. A few individuals escaped, fighting as they went.

The military and civil Governors of Barcelona, General Pedro Maria Freites and Colonel Francisco Esteban Rivas, were taken wounded and prisoners to Carácas, and there shot on April 17th.

In connection with the centenary celebrations this year, 1911, an interesting little booklet has been written by the historian M. L. Rosales, and officially published by the President of Anzoátegui, General A. Rolando, giving the accounts of the affair by Aldama on the one hand and by General D. F. O’Leary on the other.

Most of the victims’ names are lost, but the historian has collected some seventy-seven, six of whom were priests and eighteen women. Among them we may note one Carlos Chamberlain, of Jamaica, a colonel in the Republican Army, and his mother, Doña Eulalia. Another lady, Doña Juana de Jesus Rojas, died of seven bayonet wounds, while the last on the list is a little girl, Dolores Rodriguez, only four months old, who had a hand cut off, but survived and died in Carácas as lately as 1898.

Barcelona is a town of good appearance, with fairly well paved streets, and many houses of more than one storey, which show that there is not the same dread of earthquakes as at Cumaná. There are three fine churches and a well-equipped theatre. The sea near the town is shallow and has many shoals of sand, and is therefore unsuited to vessels of any size. Guanta, some 19 kilometres to the east, has an excellent natural harbour, and is now the port of Barcelona, connected with the city by a railway, which runs also to the coalmines at Naricual and Capiricual, another 19 kilometres distant. These furnish a useful bright burning coal of a later geological period than the British coal which is used on the railway and supplied to the Venezuelan steamers which ply from the Orinoco to the ports on the north coast. Briquettes are also manufactured with the coal and pitch brought from the north-east coast and Trinidad. The Barcelonians conduct the railway, the coalmine, and the briquette factory themselves, and are rather proud of their “home industries,” since in Venezuela most modern enterprises are conducted by foreigners.

The imports are mixed goods, chiefly from the United States and Holland, while the exports are mainly beasts, hides, horns, and coffee.

Aragua de Barcelona is better placed than Barcelona itself as a trade centre, and is growing in importance, becoming a serious rival to the older town. It is chiefly concerned with the cattle industry, but the inhabitants also make hammocks and various textile goods.

Maturín, the capital of Monágas, stands in the N.E. corner of the llanos, on the River Guarapiche, and from its situation it is likely, to grow considerably, in importance as the country develops. At first sight it does not produce a particularly favourable impression. The streets are not paved, but in front of the houses run narrow raised sidewalks often two feet or more above the roadway. It improves, however, on further acquaintance. There is not the air of decay and diminished importance which is badly evident in some parts of the country; the inhabitants are cheerful and sociable, and inclined to progress, and a fair amount of business appears to pass through the town.

There is probably no part of the llanos pleasanter than the country round Maturín. The grassy plain is well supplied with streams, which have generally cut their channels fairly deep, and are well wooded along their banks, and the climate is pleasant even for Europeans.

The death-rate, although there is no sanitation, is very low, under 12 per 1,000, or less than half the average rate for the republic, and lower than that of London.

Most of the trade of this part of the country is carried by schooners, which come from the sea up the Caño San Juan, to the point where the Rivers San Juan and Guarapiche join. Here there is an old guardship, where some Customs officials are stationed. The San Juan leads to Guanoco, where the Bermudez Asphalt Company carry on their business. A few miles up the Guarapiche stands the village of Caño Colorado, the headquarters of the Customs. The jungle is dense on both banks of the river, but on one side a narrow clearing has been made, just sufficient for a row of small houses, with a little back garden to each. Maturín is about thirty miles from here across country, but much farther by river. From the point at which the schooners stop the trade with Maturín is carried in bongos, which are propelled, like punts, by long poles. Planks are fixed on the two sides of the boats, and the crews, standing on these, plant their poles firmly, and then walk towards the stern. When they can go no farther, they pull out the poles and run towards the bows. The river is narrow and very swift, so that coming down stream is very easy, but going up so much way is lost between the strokes, that the men, when they pull up their poles, have to rush forward again as fast as they can. It takes three days to get from Caño Colorado up to Maturín like this, and the men are able to work almost continually during the day. Once out of sight of the houses, they generally strip completely, only throwing on some light covering on reaching one of the few settlements on the river. The exercise develops every muscle of the body and limbs, and the men engaged in it are as fine a set of athletes as any artist or anatomist could wish to see. Although the river is so wild, and human habitations so few and far apart, this scene is quite lively at intervals as groups of these bongos come along, and “man overboard,” a frequent event, is always the cause of much merriment.

The country round Maturín is dotted here and there with villages, as well as with isolated cottages. The larger cattle-owners often live in the towns but have here and there small houses for their employees. A typical casita is simplicity itself. Upright posts, tree-trunks with their branches trimmed off, are planted firmly in the ground, six feet or more apart, and cross-pieces are tied to them, at a height of about eight feet. The rafters of the roof, lighter poles, are also tied on, and palm-leaves form a most efficient thatch, throwing off the heaviest rain, and lasting for years. At one end of this roofed enclosure a small space is rendered more private, to serve as the retiring-room of the inhabitants. A few light trunks or branches are tied horizontally across the uprights, about a foot apart, and either palm-leaves are tied to these, the bedroom walls, in fact, being thatched like the roof, or a more solid mud wall is constructed on the wooden framework. The soil itself is the floor. The traveller seeking a night’s shelter slings his hammock to some of the uprights in the outer room, having no walls around him, but a roof over his head. A small fire is kept going in a corner of the outer room for cooking purposes. In the simpler cases very little furniture is required: a log or two to sit on; a few bowls of different sizes made of gourds cut in half, serving as cups or plates; an iron pot on the fire; an upright log, stuck in the ground with a bowl-shaped hollow at the top serves as a sort of mortar, in which maize, &c., may be ground; and another somewhat similar device, with a wooden lever for crushing sugar-cane, the juice running out below into the gourd placed to receive it.

It is easy to set up a home of this sort; the site once selected, the materials for house and furniture are always at hand, and the whole thing can be done in a few days.

The traveller, of course, always carries his own hammock, rolled up tight in a sausage-shaped bag carried across the saddle, either before or behind the rider. On arrival at one of these homesteads he can almost invariably count on a civil reception, and without further preliminaries slings his hammock, which then serves him as chair as well as bed. Sometimes he may chance on a spot where food is scarce at the moment, but generally the good people will find something for him. A sancoche made of a fowl stewed in its own juices, cassava in thin cakes, sprinkled with a few drops of water to soften it, some beans, and some roast plantains (cooking bananas) form a menu which, even if it does not appeal to an epicure, proves both tasty and satisfying after a long day in the saddle. Houses of this type are generally inhabited by one family only, who are looking after the flocks and herds of some wealthy owner or are in a very small way of business themselves.

A more animated scene is presented by the hato of a regular farmer, a proprietor living on the premises, employing several hands and working with them. Here we may expect to see a solid house of several rooms, with mud walls and an earth floor. If the farmer is a person of substance and taste, his bedroom may be furnished with an up-to-date bedstead, and a wardrobe or chest of drawers, and a few chairs, while the chief living-room probably has a rough table and a few chairs also. In the living-rooms the mud or clay of the walls is broken here and there about six feet above the ground, giving glimpses of the wooden framework inside the wall. This is, however, not due to accidental damage or neglect, for at night strangers, or some of the farm hands, sleep in these living-rooms, and passing their hammock-ropes through these holes, attach them to the wooden posts inside.

Round about the house, or near it, is an enclosed stockyard, built, like the houses, of upright posts, with horizontal poles attached to them. In the middle of this yard is an upright post, to which the beasts requiring any sort of operation are secured one at a time. There are, perhaps, other similar enclosures, some covered with palm thatch, in which any part of the stock may be kept separate if desired. These yards are also used at times for the accommodation of travelling herds, especially if the farm be on or near the recognised route to some market town or port. The drovers pay the farmer a small rental, generally based on the number of cattle they have, and secure them for the night, thus preventing them from straying about the plains and ensuring an early start in the morning.

Near the house, in a roofed shed, is the bakery; there we may find a small fireplace with clay walls, the top of which is formed by a circular iron plate about three feet in diameter, the whole being about the height of an ordinary table. On this the cassava-bread is baked. The flour, duly prepared and freed from superfluous water, is thinly spread on the iron and rapidly baked, the finished loaf being a large circular disc very hard and brittle, and thinner than our ordinary milk biscuits.

The cattle may be seen dotted about the plain, and near to the homesteads a few horses are grazing, tethered so that they may be at hand when wanted. There is none of the continuous work, laborious cultivation of the soil, constant attention to the live stock, &c., which we are accustomed to connect with farming at home. The farm hands spend a good deal of their time loafing about, chatting, smoking, and playing their guitars and maracas. At other times there is plenty of bustle and activity; they rush for their horses and gallop off to collect the cattle, or such of them as may be required, and drive them into the enclosure, where they are lassooed one at a time, and milked, or fastened to the post in the middle to be branded, or have hurts attended to, as the case may be. The amount of comfort to be found in these farms, and the amount of skill and energy displayed in their exploitation varies a good deal from place to place, depending mainly, after all, on the tastes and character of the owner, but partly on circumstances. In many cases absolute slackness and indifference prevail, the cattle are almost entirely left to shift for themselves, and the human beings are content to exist miserably rather than bestir themselves. There are some estates, again, where the owner is a wealthy, educated, and perhaps a travelled man, which are managed on far better lines than the average.

Maturín has a creditable record from the War of Independence, a Spanish army having been twice repulsed, and finally almost completely destroyed there. At Areo, a day and a half west of Maturín, there is in the open space by the church a huge wooden screw press, like a giant letterpress, which the inhabitants say was used by the Spaniards to press cotton. At Urica, farther west, the inhabitants are somewhat interesting. They have the reputation of having been of a brave and warlike disposition from the earliest times, and fought desperately in the War of Independence. There is something in their appearance, and a general suggestion of freedom and independence in their manner, in their very gait, which can scarcely fail to strike the traveller, even if he be unacquainted with their history.

At the little village of Curataquiche, near Barcelona, are the ruins of the Mission of St. Joseph; the walls of one end of the church, and a bit of the adjoining enclosure, very solidly built in stone, are all that remain of a once important mission. The church bells have been preserved, and are hung to a large wooden trestle on the village green.

Most of these towns and villages possess churches, but resident priests are rarely to be found. The inhabitants generally meet on Sundays and hold some sort of service among themselves, but can only hear Mass when a travelling priest comes their way. At either end of a village, at the side of the track, a plain wooden cross is generally erected, and often in its neighbourhood will be found a small shrine about which are hung various little objects placed there by pious hands as thankofferings for answers to prayers. These shrines generally contain a cross with the instruments of crucifixion, the ladder, nails, hammer, crown of thorns, spear shaft with sponge, dice, &c., but without the figure of Christ. They are often illuminated with a little flickering light at night. To the west of Barcelona there is one on the spot where a man was killed. It contains his skull, which is lit up from inside at night, producing a somewhat weird effect.

Calabozo, the chief town in the State of Guárico, and the seat of a bishopric, founded in 1730 by the Guipuzcoana Company, is a town of some importance to-day. There is a good grazing country round it, and it has a trade in cattle, mules, hides, cheese, and other things. It is a hot place, but has not the reputation of being unhealthy. Its communications are liable to be cut off by floods in the wet season. It has always been specially noted in the records of travellers for the electric eels which abound in its neighbourhood. Humboldt, when visiting Calabozo, offered a fair price for a number of these creatures. Horses were cheap at that time, and some of the inhabitants obtained the desired specimens by driving a number of horses into a pond infested with them, and prevented their escape by surrounding the pond armed with sticks. When the gymnoti had exhausted their energies on the unfortunate horses, they were able to secure them without risk. Several of the horses died, either directly from the attacks of the eels or, more probably, from drowning during the temporary paralysis caused by the electric shocks.

Among the other principal towns in Guárico is Barbacoas, pleasantly situated in a raised plain east of the Guárico, with woods to the north of it and a fertile plain to the south.

At Ortiz, founded by the cacique of that name, Bolivar was nearly killed on April 16, 1818. This town and Guayabal, which was founded by the Capuchins in 1758, were both burnt by the Spaniards during the war.

Zaraza, on the River Unare, and Camaguan, on the Portuguesa, are also of some importance; the latter was built by the Capuchins in the seventeenth century. Inundations from the Portuguesa, the Apure, and the Apurito have formed a considerable lake near Camaguan, which appears to be permanent; the Rivers Unare and Apurito are navigable to the neighbourhood of these towns in the wet season.

In the State of Cojedes, the town of San Carlos was formerly a flourishing place, but has now a very reduced population, and many formerly fine buildings are going into decay. The same sad state of things obtains at Barinas, on the River San Domingo, in the State of Zamora; its neighbourhood was formerly a famous tobacco district. Barinas is at the extremity in this direction of the telegraph service of Venezuela. Near it, at Pedraza, are some ruins, traces of an earlier Indian civilisation.

In the State of Portuguesa the chief town is Guanare, founded in 1593 by Francisco de Leon. Besides the usual cattle and live-stock industries, coffee and cocoa are grown in the neighbourhood.

The western part of the country was settled by the Spaniards earlier than the east, but about the towns of the western llanos there appears to be a melancholy air of past prosperity and of arrested development. They have suffered much from wars and political troubles, also from cattle plagues. Their inhabitants now depend chiefly on their cattle, mules, hides, &c.; in some places coffee, cocoa, and tobacco are grown, and there are a few simple manufactures, hammocks, straw hats, earthenware goods, sugar, cheese, &c., being the chief.

Nevertheless, the western llanos undoubtedly possess great resources and convenient outlets. To the north they can communicate with Barquisimeto, Puerto Cabello, and other towns, whilst the streams on which they are situated are all tributaries of the Orinoco, or of its main feeders, thus putting them into communication with Ciudad Bolivar. If good government continues, and capital is attracted, there must come to this great territory a degree of prosperity far greater than it has enjoyed in the past, or than its present inhabitants probably even dream of.