e country, but modified in direction and force by these
seasons.

In consequence of the very different elevations of the land, the
productions of nearly all parts of the world can here be cultivated
successfully. In the hot districts, chiefly bordered by the sea,
cotton, indigo, cacao, coffee, sugar, tobacco, and cocoa-nuts come to
perfection. The cocoa-palm, enjoying the advantage of the sea-breeze,
here grows to a height of seven hundred feet above the ocean. No
tobacco surpasses that of the well-known Varina. Barley and millet, as
well as wheat, are produced on the more elevated tracts; while maize is
cultivated all over the country.

The wide-extending marshes and pools are frequented by pelicans, herons,
and wild geese, ducks, and flamingoes; while other birds--chiefly
belonging to the Falconidae, Ardeidae, Strigidae, and Psittacidae--are
numerous. The savage alligator and fearful anaconda abound in all the
rivers and lakes; while the jaguar, puma, ounce, tiger-cat, monkey,
tapir, capybara, porcupine, wild hog, sloth, and ant-eater range through
its forests and savannahs.

Numerous tribes of the aborigines, driven back by the whites, exist in
the remoter districts. They are generally of a dark copper colour,
while some are of a lighter hue; and though building huts, most of them
go almost naked. They exist on plantains, yucca, batatas, and the
sugar-cane--which they rudely cultivate; and the fish, as well as the
manatees and alligators, which swarm in their waters.

The neighbourhood of the Caraccas is described as a terrestrial
paradise, where spring perpetually reigns. In this favoured region, all
the fruits of the tropics come to the greatest perfection. The
delicious chirimoya takes the first place. It is likened to lumps of
flavoured cream, ready to be frozen, suspended from the branches of some
fairy tree, amidst an overpowering perfume of flowers--for it is in
bearing all the year round. "He who has not tasted the chirimoya fruit,
has yet to learn what fruit is," says Markham.

Here, too, the grandilla, in shape like a water-melon, hangs from its
delicate tendrils. When cut open, it is found filled with a juice-like
nectar, having the flavour of the strawberry and peach. A species, of
cactus--the nopal--produces the tuna or Indian fig.

It is on the fleshy, downy stems of the cactus that the cochineal insect
is reared, producing the valuable crimson dyes which outshine the
vaunted product