Rains.

About an equal quantity of rain falls in the provinces of Venezuela, Cumana, and Guiana. The plains, mountains, and vallies participate the blessings and inconveniences of the rains, which, however, are not without intermission. There are days when not a drop falls; there are others, but not frequent, when it rains incessantly. It may be calculated, that one day with another, it rains for the space of three hours, and oftener in the evening than in the morning. All this is to be understood of the rainy season.

The drizzling rains of the polar regions are never seen here; but notwithstanding that, the sudden heavy falls of the torrid zone, the discharges from the water-spouts rushing down with the violence of a torrent, produce more water in one single day, than the rains of Europe do in six. Besides, it is sufficient to consider that the country which I describe, lies entirely beyond the 11th degree of north latitude, stretching towards the equator, and that the total quantity of the equinoctial rains are estimated at ten times that of the arctic and antarctic rains, to make it appear less surprising when we sea that all the rivers remain in a state of inundation during the greater part of the rainy season; that those extraneous channels formed by the violence of the floods, which remain dry the rest of the year, become torrents; and that they are covered with water to an immense distance, where the traveller descries only the tops of the tallest trees, which then serve him for

land-marks. This kind of accidental sea is principally formed in the northern plains of the Oronoko, and in a space extending one hundred and fifty leagues in length and forty in breadth.

Earthquakes.

It is a remark made by all the inhabitants of these provinces, that the rains, before 1792, were accompanied with lightnings and terrible claps of thunder, and that since that period, till 1804, the rain falls in greater abundance, without any of the usual accompaniments of a storm. It appears, that the atmospheric electricity has been attracted and accumulated in that mass of matter, which forms the Cordilleras, and to this cause is to be ascribed the earthquakes which have been experienced at Cumana in the month of December, 1797, and whose ravages have been so great. They had not felt any of these commotions since 1778 and 1779.

This part of South America, although placed between the Antilles, where earthquakes are so frequent and Peru, where they are still more frequent, enjoys, in the midst of this agitated country, intervals of repose, which would border upon the miraculous, if it did not depend on a circumstance happily in its favour, namely, that its air being less rarefied, gives less action to electricity, and that its land contains in its bosom a smaller portion of the principles of fermentation and combustion.

On the 1st May, 1802, at eleven o'clock in the evening, there was a pretty strong shock felt at Ca

raccas, with oscillations from west to east. On the 20th of the same month, at five minutes past four o'clock in the evening, there was another of a vertical direction, which lasted one minute, nor did the earth resume its horizontal level, till two minutes thereafter. On 4th July following, at forty-eight minutes past two o'clock in the morning, two strong shocks were felt; on the same day, at thirty-five minutes past six in the morning, there was another not so strong. The causes and local origin of the earthquakes appear to be in the province of Cumana; for they are there more violent than elsewhere. (See Cumana, in the chapter containing the description of the cities.)

Timber for building.

The mountains of Venezuela produce the same kinds of wood, as the Antilles, besides a great many others, which are peculiar to them. The vast forests which cover them, would be capable of furnishing, for ages, the most extensive ship-yards, with an abundant supply of timber, if the roughness of the mountains did not render the labour of cutting and conveyance too difficult and too expensive for a country whose navigation does not receive sufficient encouragement to enable it to support its own expense.

It is twenty years since the king ordered arrangements to be made in the province of Cumana for the felling of wood to supply his European arsenals. This work did not last a long time; but it ceased not so much on account of any scarcity of wood, as on ac

count of the immense expenses which accompany every undertaking in which the king is concerned. When an occasion of this kind presents itself, every overseer always forms, and very frequently realizes schemes of making his fortune, in consequence of which the state is often ruined by the same operations which enrich individuals.

By the rivers of Tocuyo and Yaraqui, they transport to Porto Cabello, situated fifteen leagues to the windward, all the timber which is consumed in the port for the refitting, and even for the building of vessels.

A little more to the windward of the mouth of the Tocuyo, in the latitudes of the small Tucacas islands, the proximity of wood facilitates the establishment of yards, but the want of demand causes that resource to be neglected. At Maracaibo, they use for building, timber of superior quality to that of Terra Firma; accordingly the yards of that city are constantly busy; and would be still more so, if the bar permitted the egress of ships of a larger size.

Timber for Carpenter-Work.

Carpenters and Cabinet-makers find likewise in these mountains materials so various as to embarrass them in the choice. In general, they use the wood which the Spaniards call Pardillo, for beams, joists, door-frames and posts, &c. In some places, instead of the Pardillo, a species of very hard oak is used, which is the Quercus Cerus of Linnæus, and the Quercus Gallifer of Tournefort.

Timber for Cabinet-Work.

Cabinet-makers make great use of Cedar for doors, windows, tables, and common chairs, &c. For ornamental furniture, they have at hand several kinds of wood susceptible of the finest polish. Amongst these is distinguished the black ebony, found in the greatest abundance in several places, but particularly upon the banks of the Totondoy, which falls into the lake Maracaibo. It is there that nature seems to have placed the nursery of those trees that are most subservient to the necessities, the pleasure, and the caprice of man. Yellow ebony is very common in the forests of Terra Firma; so likewise is red ebony.The Spaniards call the black ebony, ebano; the yellow, palo amarillo; the red, granadillo. Minute accuracy obliges me to observe, that from one of those causes which philosophy has not yet explored among the secrets of nature, mahogany in Terra Firma is not so abundant as it is in that part of St. Domingo which Spain ceded to France, nor can it bear any comparison with respect to its shades or gloss.

Timber for particular uses.

For works which require extraordinary hard wood they employ iron-wood, the Ybera puterana of Marcgrave.

It is used for the axle-trees which support the wheels of water-mills, for the rollers with which the cylinders are jointed for pressing the sugar canes, &c. &c. This kind of wood is common through the