A Woyage TO THE EASTERN PART OF TERRA FIRMA, OR THE SPANISH MAIN,' IN SOUTH-AMERICĂ, DURING THE YEARS 1801, 1802, 1803, AND 1804. CONTAINING A description of the Territory under the jurisdiction of the Captain-Ge- BY F. DEPONS, LATE AGENT OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT AT CARACCAS. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. WITH A LARGE MAP OF THE COUNTRY, &c. TRANSLATED BY AN AMERICAN GENTLEMAN. NEW-YORK: PRINTED BY AND FOR I. RILEY AND CO. NO. I, CITY-HOTEL, BROADWAY. 1806. E IT REMEMBERED, That on the twenty-second the thirty-first District of New-York, S Independence of the United States of America, ISAAC RILEY, of the said District, hath deposited in this Office, the Title of a Book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words and figures following, to wit: "A Voyage to the Eastern part of Terra Firma, or the Spanish Main, "in South America, during the years 1801, 1802, 1803, and 1804, containing a description of the Territory under the jurisdiction of the Cap"tain-General of Caraccas, composed of the provinces of Venezuela, Ma"racaibo, Varinas, Spanish Guiana, Cumana, and the Island of Margaretta; " and embracing every thing relative to the Discovery, Conquest, Topography, Legislation, Commerce, Finance, Inhabitants and Productions "of the Provinces, together with a view of the manners and customs of "the Spaniards, and the savage as well as civilized Indians, by F. DEPONS, "late agent of the French Government at Caraccas, in three volumes, "with a large Map of the Country, &c. translated by an American Gen"tleman." IN CONFORMITY to the Act of the Congress of the United States, en. titled "An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of "such Copies, during the times herein mentioned;" and also to an Act entitled "An Act supplementary to an act entitled, An act for the encour. "agement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and "Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies, during the "" times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof, to the Arts "of Designing, Engraving and Etching historical and other prints." EDWARD DUNSCOMB. Clerk of the District of New-York. FROM THE HON. S. L. MITCHILL TO THE PUBLISHERS. New-York, September 18, 1806. MESSRS. I. RILEY AND CO. HAVING heard that you intend to publish a Translation of Mr. Depons' Voyage to the Eastern Part of Terra Firma, published in Paris a few months ago, I send I send you a hasty version of the author's introductory remarks. In these his objects are so far unfolded, that the reader may form a tolerable opinion of his opportunities to collect information, and of his talent to communicate it. I hope you will soon give the three volumes to the public, in an English dress: For the seasonableness and importance of a work, written with the ability manifested in every part of this, on the Provinces of South-America, belonging to the Captain-Generalship of Caraccas, cannot fail to recommend it to the notice of statesmen, merchants, and the lovers of general knowledge. The perusal of this performance, which discloses to our view some of the most favoured countries, which, though but moderately distant from us, and situated in the same quarter of the globe, have been kept out of our sight for three hundred years by the care and prudence of Spanish policy, has given me more than usual pleasure and instruction. I doubt not that many of my fellow-citizens will receive from it equal gratification; for it displays many new and curious particulars, which lose nothing by the manner of telling. To it many, may be a recommendation that the author writes more like a man of business than a man of science. SAM. L. MITCHILL. |