| CATHEDRAL: CARÁCAS | [Frontispiece] |
| FACING PAGE | |
| PENINSULA OF PARIA FROM TRINIDAD | [28] |
| IN THE DELTA | [28] |
| PANORAMA OF THE ANDES FROM NORTH OF CARACHE | [36] |
| IN THE UPPER TEMPERATE ZONE: THE CHAMA VALLEY | [50] |
| CLOUD DRIFTS IN THE ANDES | [58] |
| TORBES VALLEY AND THE COLOMBIAN HILLS | [58] |
| THE CHAMA VALLEY ABOVE MÉRIDA | [68] |
| MOUNTAIN STREAM NEAR CUMANACOA AND CUMANÁ | [68] |
| BARQUISIMETO | [78] |
| STATUE IN PLAZA BOLIVAR: CARÁCAS | [88] |
| THE UNIVERSITY: CARÁCAS | [98] |
| THE FEDERAL PALACE: CARÁCAS | [108] |
| OVEN: LA RAYA | [116] |
| AN ANDINE POSADA: LA RAYA | [116] |
| LA GUAIRA HARBOUR | [128] |
| PLAZA BOLIVAR: VALENCIA | [138] |
| MARACAIBO BAY | [148] |
| SAN TIMOTEO: LAKE OF MARACAIBO | [148] |
| A STREET IN LA GRITA | [158] |
| PUENTE REAL: GORGE OF THE CHAMA | [158] |
| THE SIERRA NEVADA AND CATHEDRAL OF MÉRIDA | [168] |
| WILLEMSTAD: CURAÇAO | [178] |
| THE HARBOUR: WILLEMSTAD | [178] |
| PUERTO CRISTOBAL COLÓN | [188] |
| RUINED CHURCH: BARCELONA | [198] |
| CASA FUERTE: BARCELONA | [198] |
| MESA OF ESNOJAQUE: TRUJILLO | [208] |
| MÉRIDA: LOOKING SOUTH FROM UNIVERSITY | [208] |
| CARRYING TILES ON OX-BACK: NEAR TOVAR | [218] |
| CROSSING THE TORBES IN FLOOD | [228] |
| THE “PITCH” LAKE: TRINIDAD | [244] |
| COUNTRY COACH: BARQUISIMETO | [256] |
| ON THE BOLIVAR RAILWAY | [256] |
The frontispiece and the illustrations facing pages 78, 88, 98, 108, 128, 138 are taken from “Venezuela,” by N. Veloz-Goiticoa, by permission of the Bureau of South American Republics, Washington, U.S.A.
VENEZUELA
CHAPTER I
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF VENEZUELA
Situation—Area—Population—Main physical divisions—The Guayana Highlands—Mountains, rivers, and forests—The Llanos—Selvas—Mesas—Rivers and cienagas—The Delta—Caños—The Caribbean Hills—Serrania Costanera—Serrania Interior—Rivers—Segovia Highlands—Drainage—Vegetation—The Andes—Portuguese chain—Cordillera of Mérida—The Sierra Nevada—Mountain torrents—Vegetation—Páramos—The Coastal Plain—Lake of Maracaibo—Coro and Paraguana Lowlands—Climate—“White-water” and “black-water” rivers—Seasons—Tierra caliente, templada, and fria—Temperature and seasons—“St. John’s little summer”—Health.
If we take a map of South America on which the political boundaries are clearly shown, Venezuela will be observed as a wedge of territory immediately to the east of the most northerly point of the continent, separating Colombia from our colony of British Guiana.
The United States of Venezuela, as this republic is officially called, lie wholly within the tropical zone, between latitude 0° 45´ N. and 12° 26´ N. and longitude 59° 35´ W. and 73° 20´ W. (from Greenwich). The area within these limits is some 1,020,400 square kilometres, or 394,000 square miles, according to the Statistical Year Book for 1908, published in Carácas in 1910. The total population, according to the same authority, is 2,664,241, these being the figures of the last census, that of 1891.
Turning to our map once more, it will be seen that the wedge is not a regular one, but suggests rather the lower half of a human head, with the Lower Orinoco as the line of the jaw. The features are easily observed to separate the territory of the republic into four main divisions: (1) the Guayana Highlands, including all the region corresponding to the part of the head below the jaw-line, i.e., south and east of the Orinoco; (2) the great central area of plains or Llanos, bounded on the north and west by (3) the north-eastern branch of the great Andine chain, and in the north-west of the country (4) a smaller low-lying region round the Lake of Maracaibo. Each of these divisions includes somewhat varying types of land surface, but has its main features of uniform character.