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Volume i-]
l‘l iSUSIIH’ WKKKLT,
uv
JOrr.V K. M. CHARLTON
PRICE THfl’.E DOLLARS ER ANNUM, HALF
i’AID T\* ADVAVCIS.
Caracas , or Venezuela .
We proceed with the proposed se
ries of sketches of “ Spanish A
merica /’ according to the bed
intonation poflefied, by giving
ibrne account of the very inter
esting provinces of Caracas or
Venezuela. We regret exceed
ingly that we have not the trieans
of .derailing the progref's of the
revolution, which, for several
years, has agitated this country,
and produced the moil bloody
wars, for the number engaged
in them of modern times, l'he
priefls and royalists began tire
work of extermination , and, un
happily, it has been too much
the rule of both parties to con
tinue it. During this period
government has changes
hands several times—it was late
ly royal, but Bolivar, we rriift,
has “ redo red’ * the republic.
No doubt also, many changes have
taken pHceinthe (fate and coo
dition of the people since the
date of the work we have brb f.
ly abdratted. But, with con
siderable enquiry, w*e are una
ble to add much that can be re
lied oh.
Mr. Depon’s work is the only
one on this (übjec't theit we can re
to t to'—we fhal! therefore sketch
haflily the moft prominent features
from his iuil and able defeription
ihe caprain-generalfnip,* or as
rr is fomethnes called the province
of Caracas, conhlts of the provin- 1
ces ot Venezuela, Maracaibo, V,-
inas, Guian, Cum ana and the-Tfle
of Margarita, it extends along ;
the coaff from 61 to yj deg. long,
welt ft no Paris; and from 12
north iat. to the equator. ft: is
bounded on the land tide by Gui
ana and New Grenada, and lies
between the mouth of the Oronc
co and cape do !a Vela.
It is the region of the cfice ce
lehrated El Dorado . and is the
place felecled by Las Cafas for the
trial of his scheme to civilize the
Indians. B’etfed by being delli
lure of the previous metals., at the
fame tiitie that it fa eminently fruit
ful, and more fa-
Itibrious than any of the neighbor
ing diftri&s.
The heat is moderated by a
chain of mountains which fra
verse the country from well to
call—from thedake of Maracaibo’
to the I(Ie of Trinidad. The fea
fons are divided into wet and dry,
as in other tropical regions. The
fainy season begins in May and
ends in December—while it Sails
there is rain three hours a day at
an average.
The productions are cacao,
t.'hich is esteemed the bed in the
World, except that of So con?. Fee.
Indigo, which is inferior to that us
Ouatimala, but 25 per cent better
than that of anv other country
* ihe bpamli) poil 1:10ns in A
ir.erica are divided into four vice
royalties, Mexico, Peru, Buenos
A v res and New Grenada, and into
five captain-generalfiups, Porto Ri
co Cuba, Ouatimala, Caracas and
Chili The captain-general is in
ferior in dignity to the -. ce- r ov.
but quite independent of hh au
thority.
TH E NEW S.
WASHINGTON, (georgia) FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 1816.
Cotton, coffee, sugar and tobacco.
Besides, there is an immense varie
ty of natural preduftions, feme of
which would require only the trou
ble of collecting them. Among
thole is the Vanilla, the fruit oPa
; climbing plant like ivy, which is
! worth too francs per pound ; and
the province of Venezuela irfelf,
might at’Ford 10,000 weight annu-
I ally. Wild cochineal is not in
tended to except for their own use.
There is more fall a pariila than ai!
Europe could conlurne ; liqourice
is in. abundance, particularly at
‘ Truxillo, the fquiil in Sugunetas,
florax in Cota, aloes in Chrara,
Ia (pccies of quinquina on the
r mountains, and cafiu ahnoft every
; where. 1 here are above 20 k nds
i of exquisitely beautiful woods for
1 cabinet work, that admit of finer
, polifin than the bell mahogany.—
| Ofthefe the molt elleemed is the
Chaca randy.
The lake of Maracaibo is 15b
i miles in circumference and com i
j muriicates with the sea- At its !
1 north call corner there is a very j
copious Ipring of nntieral pitch
and from this there is a cohftant ‘
; exhalation ot infiamable vapors !
| which phaphsrel'cent during 1
’ the night and serve as a beacon to i
thnfe who navigate the fake.
Porto Cabcllo fs the befl fiar
bq* on this coafl, or in America.
I Guayra, the harbor of Caracas is
j the nv ft frequented. In ihe gulph
j ot Pavia there is good anchorage.
ihe whole population of Cara
j cas is efiinateH at 728,000 fouls,
!of which 500,000 belong to the
! provinces of Venezuela and V.-ri
i nas, 100,000 to Maracaibo, 80,
, *
j 000 to Cu.i’.ana, 34 000 to Spafi
j ifh Guiana and 14, to the HI -of
1 Margaiftta—ihe whites (dm one
’ # f f
\ fifth of this p'opufoion, the haves
j fhree tenths, the tree people of co
| lor two fifths and the Indians one
1 tenth.
There arc few Europeans here,
, as the Spaniards are not permitted
1 to visit their American fettle -nerds
1 without a licence from the king,
1 which cannot be obtained uni da
the objcdlt of the put ney is known
and approved by the council of
> the I idles. ihe license is gener
j hi y limited to two years, tis a leave
jto fettie is nut obtained without
‘ the grebrefi difficulty Even the
crubies tent to Spain for their e u
cation’ cannot return without a li
l cenff, and z pafipc.rt to one pro
i vine* does not authorde the bearer
j to go to another.
f hefe feVere but ill-cxecuted
laws wd: e dictated in part by po
| lit leal fears and jca!pus : es ; but
: their principal source was in thq f
j fvirit ct monaflic regulations—in
! those maxims of religious bigotry
j and auHenry, which have been so j
long cultivated with such mifeheiv
ous effects m Spain. Instead of re
garding its colonies as places of re- :
! iuge for the idle, the difsoiute and i
j the difaffecled, where they might)
I learn to amend their lives and for- 1
i # ‘
1 get their errors—the Spanish couit
watched over their foreign fcttle
• menrs with the folicirude of a du
lenna, and regulated their govern
l merit as if they were to be inhabi
ted by Carthcfians. No Spaniard
! could g-t perrniffion to go to A
merica without a certificate of hh
morel and cfiarsfiler, and
•’U . UeHation that'non-* of h : s fort
j Others, for three generations back,
had been coh emned by tneinqui
; fition, even to carry the infamous
j sanbeneito.
I he education of boys attracts j
little attention at the citv tot Cara- 1
| cas, but that of the giilc : s whol- j
ly neglefled. Ehey learn nothing
but what their parents teach them,
and the whole of that con fids in
; knowing how to fay their prayers,
to read ill and to write worte.
As to the men, their ignorance j
of all ufcful knowledge can only
1 be equalled by their contempt tor
all uieful occupations. The car
sos their ,•Mates is dteemed btneaiii
their notice, and they hold all pro
fefliohs in difdaiu, except the law, (
the army and the church Fami
ly pride of the lowest and moll if
lib-ritl cast 1 th*ir ruling paflion.
Ihe peop e of color are the me
chahics, but they are poor, iazy
and unskilful, though free from a
ny dangerous vices. The towns,
as in hpain, (warm witii beggars in
1 corrftquence of a mtffaken charity,
1 which reeds the profligate at the |
! expehee o! the good citizen—!
; Ihe archbishop of Caracas out of {
! his tythes, wrung from tfie induf
j trious cultivator, difttibbtes his
j chanty once a week among 1200
j vagabonds who null to tuvh re
: louice tor their livelihood. Th<
pireitly policy of tins course is ob
vious.
Millions to convert the Indians I
were not eUubhfhed till ihe middle
ot the lcvuitcenth ctn.ury, anb
they ftiii exist—but the miflionar
its are laid to occupy thetnfelves
j but htt!e with the obj;£t of tlieir
inflitution—and to avail thetnfelves J
only ot their means tooppivis and }
j defraud ihe natives., bo the oil
! them have by a kind ot cc itra ;
band commerce amassed great j
vvealtb.
1 lie commerce of Caracas is
1 not half io extendve or valuable as
;it would be* if relieved from its
! hppreflive regula ions. They pay ,
| export Judes about equal to those j
i6n imports. Ihe prohibitions on ■
j neutrai trade, as they call it, and ,
’ the ntipofliLrtiity of Jupplying the •
! .oionies with every nectffary from |
the mother country, hasgiveft im- \
rnenfe extent and profit to their .
contraband trade, which not only j
| defrauds the revenue, but degrades j
and depreiles commerce. <dara- j
cas cat .it s on little trade with o- :
ther Sp-tnifh colonies—about too, ,
000 dollars annually is the amount i
ot exports to Cuba and Porto Ri
! co, at id they receive about 4-00,000
doliirs, in fpecieg annually, bv
the return ships from Vera Cruz.
With the mother country the |
exports Hand thus : ,
From 1 7 to i 79G :
307 810 cwt. ol cocua, at jjl:j
P f ‘ -yt; ‘ ‘ £0,030,740 !
! 2,L’f.S'.stifs iniligo. at I*2
rrius ifO'th-. *ll* a IT'.iff', I
1.-mr,. *2 itib'ofVww*; - at
U')-s fa r c\vt. “G-ms 299,1/6-j
1 >2S./it)4 ;!.
I pci (.At. * t ’ 150,0/0
From 1 797 to IROO :
2:9,17a cw l. of < ocon, juine
f gI.IOTO't !
f.f ii ci 70, J.oS 7
2,8 *1 of > u>n, cGf>,SSO
>7 jo* of c..lice, ],V -i35
Q 318
In the finances there is general
ly an annual deficit which has
i ■ o be Fupplied from the Other pro
vinces,
Wcomited to give any account
1 of the city of Caracas, because,
since the great earthquake, the
progress of its rcfuKitati- •> >• ‘t
well known. Its situation is hi rt
and healthy ; the. heat in the
warm mo ths not beng gieat r
than the usual Cummer heat of this
place, (Baltimore) —and in the
winter mom hs the thermometer is
never within ten of the freezing
point. The population of the i
---ty of Caracas was formerly 40,000
—That of Guavra, its port. L a
bout 6000. Among the inland
towns of Vc nt zeela, ih- y re>. kori
twelve which coo r nin 1300 to
70c) inhabitants b< fiJes many vil
lages. Porto Ca ello, on the
coafl 1 f Venezuela, is thought to
domain 7000, and C iro 10/'OO
fouls
province of Ctirfiana is tX
tremcly fertile ; and il the SpaH
ifh government have the good
f nfe to wink at the mtercourfe of
its inhabitants with the illan of
I tinidad it is likelv to prosper.
Cumana and Barcelona, its prin
cipal fa ports, are unhealthy ; but
that evil is all owing to the inat
tention of the p ’ice, and might
easily be remedied The popula
tion rt Cumana is eftima ed at
4i,000 and Barcelona at 14.000,
Margarita is a noffifiion of linlc
or no value in its If ; but .n the
hands of an enemy it might do in
calculable rnifehief, bv intercepting
the trade between Caracas and
Spain
Maracaibo is hot but healthy. It
contains about 22,000 f> .1 Is ; ma
ny of whom area number ol fami
lies of decayed nobility, prevented
by the prejudices of their rank
from engaging in any ufelul occu
pations.
Merida is an ifiand town of the
fame province, difiinguifhed by trie
industry and intelligence of its in
habitants.
Sr. LOUIS, Tune 15.
INDIAN NEWS. It is cop.,
je&ured that the Indians who have
committed the late depredations at
the Boon’s Lick settlements, are a
party of Sacks and Winebagoer.
who were returning from an ex*
peditton agairift fome tribes of Mis
souri Indians, with whom they are
at war. Treaties will not bind
these people, fear wili only reflraiil
them, fncidents in the proceed
ings of brigadier-general Smith ful
ly ill uft rate this abortion, l'he
general with about one thoufani
regular troops, afeended to Rock
river, a few weeks ago, to ereO. a
fort ; he chose a pofbion on Rock
Ifiand, ’ the moft commanding
fpet in that quarter, and immedi
ately commenced building - . The
chiefs prefifed him to desist, declar
ing that they could not be respon
sible for the conduct of their young
warriors, who difapprobated the
building a f >rt in‘their neighbor
hood; the gen. treated them civilly,
but went on withthb work, and no
doubt by this time has a fortfefs
of great Hrengtß completed. A
person who left there a few days
ago, reprefeiit the Indians as triend
* kock Ifiand, a beautiful and
) extensive body of rich land, cover
ed with valuable timber ; it is fit.
uated above tjie mouth of Rock
river. This ifiand is represented
to be fix miles long, and from one
to one and a half broad, one of the
moft healthy iilands on the Mis
sissippi.
r\'o. m