whether Venezuela was north or south of the equator, or whether the capital of the Republic was on the Atlantic or Pacific seaboard. It was not till after the agitation of the Guayana boundary question that the mass of American readers discovered that Venezuela is our nearest neighbor but one; that Caracas is less than eight days' travel from Washington; that its principal seaport towns are only about six days' sail from New York, and less than four from Savannah and Charleston; and that the capitals of Guatemala, Ecuador, and Peru are practically as far from Caracas as is Rome from St. Petersburg.

A glance at any good map of the South American continent will show that Venezuela occupies its northermost extremity; and that La Guayra and Cumuná are further north than the isthmian cities of Colon and Panama. The Republic is bounded on the west and southwest by Colombia, east and southeast by British Guiana, south by Brazil and Colombia, and north by the Atlantic ocean and the Caribbean sea. And if we care to make the calculation, we shall discover that "the little Republic" comprises an area of territory greater than that of either France or Germany, and greater than that of Italy and Spain combined.

The peculiar topographical conformation of the country affords almost every variety of climate within the compass of a few miles, and every species and variety of vegetal product common to the three zones of the earth. It is traversed by some of the largest rivers of the world, and abounds with great inland lakes of fresh water, often at altitudes which afford a temperate and equable climate. If we could take a bird's-eye view of the country, we should see dizzy ridges of snowcapped mountains, deep tropical valleys, rolling steppes, vast treeless plains, dense forests yet unexplored by

civilized man, swamps and jungles inhabited only by reptiles and wild beasts, millions of domestic cattle grazing upon vast prairies, great coffee estates side by side with sugar and tobacco plantations, and auriferous districts richer in gold and silver and precious stones than those of California or Australia.

Many of the large rivers are navigable by heavy steamers all the year round, and some of them traverse the entire Republic from side to side. Nearly a hundred of them flow, in circuitous courses, to the Caribbean Sea; as many more flow into the Gulf of Paria; more than fifty disembogue into Lake Maracaybo; and some half dozen others flow into the beautiful inland lake of Valencia. Few countries are so well watered; few have so many fine harbors and navigable caños; and perhaps none have such alternations of rich alluvial soil, upland forests, and mountains of mineral wealth. It is indeed strange that, in this material age, the possibilities of such a country should be a matter of such indifference to the industrial and commercial world.

The chief river is the great Orinoco, which, with its two hundred tributaries and its twelve thousand square miles of delta, is the key to nearly a quarter of the South American continent. The river is to Venezuela what the great Yangstze is to China, what the Amazon is to Brazil, what the Magdalena is to Colombia, what the Mississippi is to the United States. One of the affluents of the Orinoco is connected by a natural channel with an affluent of the Amazon; another, starting from the eastern spur of the Imataca mountains, and flowing eastward through the coast region, connects the great Delta with the Moroco; another, with its sources in the Chema mountains on the borders of Colombia, flows eastward through the heart of Venezuela and disembogues 400 miles above the head of the Delta, --

thus practically connecting the eastern and western extremities of the Republic by inland water navigation; another, with its sources in the great eastern cordillera near Bogotá, connects the interior of Colombia with eastern Venezuela, and thence by the main channel of the Orinoco with the Gulf of Paria.

Topographically, Venezuela is divided into three great natural belts or zones, which may be designated as the agricultural, the pastoral, and the forest belts. The best agricultural region lies between the coast and the great Parima range of mountains, a vast and diversified area of deep valleys, elevated tablelands, and alluvial flats. Here, every cereal common to both temperate and torrid zone of the earth may be produced. It is the home of the potato, of the cotton plant, of the coffee shrub, of the delicate indigo plant, of the orange and citron, of the perennial banana, or of the cereals of the north temperate zone, according to relative altitudes, and all within the compass of a few leagues. Within this belt are the seaport towns and the principal agricultural and commercial interests of the country; and it therefore goes without saying that this is the most populous and civilized portion of the Republic.

The pastoral zone, extending from the Parima mountain range to the Orinoco and Apure rivers, consists of extensive llanos, or plains, where the pasturage is luxuriant and perennial, and great herds of cattle are reared with little or no expense. Here the vast interest of cattle-breeding is under regulations similar to those in the grazing regions of Texas and Colorado; and in a few years the frugal owner finds himself in possession of a handsome little fortune through the natural increase of his herds.

The forest zone extends from the valley of the upper Orinoco to the northern limits of Brazil, and is, for the