The population of Merida amounts to upwards of 11,000, composed of Spaniards, mestizoes, mulattoes, &c. The whites are chiefly employed in agricultural pursuits, and the people of colour in the manufacture of articles of cotton, and woollens.
This city was founded under the name of Santiago de los Caballeros, in 1558, by Juan Rodrigo Suarez; and at the period when the late dreadful earthquake overwhelmed the city of Caraccas, it shared the same fate, and was nearly destroyed, but has since been rebuilt, and become more populous than before.
Pampeluna, or Pamplona, is another town of the province of Merida towards its southern boundaries, in 6° 30ʹ north latitude, and 71° 36ʹ west longitude. In its neighbourhood some gold is occasionally found. This place is 170 miles north-north-east of Santa Fé de Bogota.
St. Christoval is also another town, situated between the two latter, and
La Grita is fifty miles south-south-west of Merida, where there is a chain of mountains called by the same name.
PROVINCE OF SAN JUAN DE LOS LLANOS.
This province which is the most easterly one of the kingdom of New Granada, is bounded on the north by Varinas and Merida; on the east by Varinas; on the west by Santa Fé and Popayan, and south by the government of Quixos. Its limits are not accurately defined, the name signifying the Province of the Plains, which extend their dreary surfaces to an immense length in these regions; some of those on which numerous herds of cattle are fed being more than 2 or 300 leagues in length.
The capital of this province is the town of San Juan de los Llanos, at the distance of fifty miles east-south-east of Santa Fé de Bogota, in 3° north latitude, 73° 26ʹ west longitude. It was formerly celebrated for the gold found in its neighbourhood. This town was founded in 1555, and contains very few inhabitants.
In this province are several missions, established by the monks of Santa Fé de Bogota and the Jesuits; but very little is known concerning them, being chiefly establishments for the conversion of the different scattered tribes which roam over the country intercepted between the Andes and the Orinoco.