Spanish America, Vol. II (of 2). Bonnycastle Richard Henry
a chapel of ease, two monasteries, a convent of Dominican nuns, and an hospital.
PROVINCE OF VARINAS
Varinas, the next province of Caraccas, divides the territories of this government from those of the kingdom of New Granada.
It is bounded on the north by the provinces of Maracaybo and Venezuela, east by the plains of Caraccas and the Orinoco, west by Merida and New Granada, and south by Juan de los Llanos, or Casanare.
This province was formed in the year 1787, by separating the southern districts of Venezuela and Maracaybo, when it was also constituted a distinct government. The chief has the title of governor, and his functions are the same as those of Cumana and Maracaybo, in the civil, military and ecclesiastical departments.
In order to defend this new province, a militia was raised in 1803, and a garrison allotted to the city of Varinas, consisting of seventy-seven men. The chief products of this extensive country are tobacco, well known in the European markets, and cattle, sugar, coffee, cotton, indigo; and all the fruits of the torrid zone, find here a soil adapted to each; and their qualities are unrivalled.
The commodities of Varinas are exported chiefly by water to Guiana; the place of embarkation being at a spot called Tocunos, five leagues below the city.
The most remarkable features of this country are the extensive plains, of which it is mostly composed, and which are covered with a luxuriant herbage, feeding innumerable herds of cattle, flocks of sheep, and droves of mules and horses; these are either used in the province, or exported by means of the Great Orinoco.
Varinas is intersected by numerous large and navigable rivers, which occasionally inundate and fertilize its plains. Of these, the Apure, the Portuguesa, the Guanarito, the Bocono, Guanapalo, the Arauca, the Capanaparo, the Sinaruco, and the Meta, are the most noted.
The Apure rises in one of the ridges that diverge from the eastern branch of the Andes in New Granada, in the province of Santa Fé; its length is 170 leagues, of which forty are from north-east to south-east, and the rest from west to east, where it joins the Orinoco by a number of mouths, after having received many very fine rivers, which will one day serve to render the carrying on of the trade from the eastern district of New Granada, and the countries bordering on the Atlantic extremely easy. These rivers are the Tinaco, San Carlos, Cojeda, Agua Blanca, Acarigua, Areyaruo, Hospicia, Abaria, Portuguesa, Guanare, Tucapido, Bocono, Masparro, La Yuca, the Santo Domingo, Paguay, Tisnados, &c., which all come either from the mountains of Granada, or those of Venezuela, and mingle their waters with the Apure, in the immense plains of Varinas.
The Santo Domingo, and Portuguesa, are the largest of these streams, almost the whole of which unite above Santiago, and form a great body of water, which enters the Apure twelve leagues below that place, and twenty leagues north of the Orinoco. This immense quantity of water gives such an impulse to the Apure, that it forces the Orinoco before it for the space of four miles, although the latter river is there a league in width. The shock of the meeting of these two noble rivers is so great, that it occasions a great agitation in the middle of the Orinoco, forming dreadful eddies and whirlpools, at which the most dextrous Indians shudder. For the space of three leagues after the stream of the greater river has regained its force, the waters of the Apure are still distinguishable by their bright and crystal appearance, after which they are lost in the muddy current of the Orinoco. The exportation of cattle by way of Guiana takes place along the banks of these two rivers, on account of the excellent pasturage which they every where afford. All the traders of the eastern portion of Caraccas, are induced by the easy means of conveyance afforded by so many confluent streams, to send their coffee, cotton and indigo to Guiana, instead of sending them on the backs of mules to Caraccas, or Porto Cavello, and traveling 300 miles in a country often almost impassable, from the inundations of the rivers.
The Arauca is a river nearly as large as the Apure, and which rises in the mountains of Santa Fé, a short distance south of the sources of the latter, with which it holds a parallel course, through a country inundated by the Apure, and communicates with it near the Orinoco by several branches before it enters that river, thus forming some large and fertile islands.
The Rio Capanaparo rises in the marshy country south of the Arauca, and enters the Orinoco, south of the latter river by two mouths, at some distance from each other.
South of this is another named the Sinaruco, which also rises in the marshes, and receives an accession to its waters from the overflowings of the Apure and the Arauca, entering the Orinoco between the Capanaparo and the Meta.
The Meta is a noble river, which rises in the mountain ridge opposite to Santa Fé de Bogota, and flowing through the province of Juan de los Llanos, and the district of Casanare, it receives many other large rivers, and enters the Orinoco, thirty leagues below the cataracts of Ature, and 125 leagues from Santo Tomé of Guiana. The Meta receives the Pachiquiaro, the Upia, the Cravo, and the Pauto in Juan de los Llanos, and the Ariporo, the Chire, and the Casanare (a fine river into which flow several others) in the province or district of Casanare. The Meta also receives several smaller streams in Varinas, and seems destined to form vast commercial relations between the kingdom of New Granada and the government of Caraccas.
When the annual fleet of galleons was put a stop to, the government issued orders that all the interior produce of New Granada should be carried to Carthagena, and forbid every article, excepting coarse cottons and flour to be exported by way of the Meta, which considerably retarded the progress of the settlers in Varinas, the Llanos, and Guiana, and put a stop to the cultivation of many articles too bulky to be carried over such bad roads as those which descend to the Magdalena and the Cauca.
The banks of the Meta are inhabited chiefly by Indians, of which the Guahibos tribe occupies the country near the Orinoco; and in Juan de los Llanos, the missionary villages, are very numerous on both banks of the stream.
The capital of Varinas is the city of Varinas in 7° 40' north latitude, and 100 leagues south-east of Caraccas. It is a neat little place in a tolerable climate, with one church, and an hospital. Its inhabitants amount to about 6000, the governor of the province residing here.
The other towns of most consequence are San Jayme, St. Fernando de Apure, and San Antonio. St. Jayme is situated on the west bank of the Portuguesa, above its junction with the Guanaparo and the Apure in 7° 50' north latitude on a sand hill. The town is so environed with water for three months, that the inhabitants cannot leave their houses but in canoes; it is seventy-five leagues south of Caraccas.
St. Fernando de Apure is erected on the south bank of the Apure, near its junction with the Portuguesa. This town is well built, in a hot but healthy climate, and contains about 6000 inhabitants, whose occupation consists in rearing mules and cattle, and their property is in large commons, lying south of the city.
San Antonio is situated on the north bank of the Apure, just above where it divides itself into several branches to join the Arauca, in about 7° 30' north latitude, with a village called Bancolargo on the opposite bank of the river. South of this town and between the Capanaparo and the Sinaruco, the country is inhabited by tribes of wild and independent Indians, who allow no settlements to be made among them.
The whole province of Varinas on its western and northern parts is covered with farms and small villages, mostly situated on the banks of the different rivers.
A road leads from the plains of Calobozo, in Venezuela, through St. Fernando de Apura, and across the rivers to the junction of the Meta with the Orinoco.
This province has lately become the scene of contests between the Spanish troops and the insurgents; particularly in the vicinity of the Apure.
PROVINCE OF GUIANA; OR, SPANISH GUIANA
This immense province extends from the frontiers of Juan de los Llanos and Quixos, in New Granada to the frontiers of British, French and Portuguese Guiana. It is bounded on the north by the Orinoco and the plains of Cumana, Barcelona, and Caraccas; on the east by