hammocks out of grass, bark, and cotton, and employ themselves in the cultivation of the ground, and in the care of live stock and the pursuit of game. In the summer time the hammocks are swung out in the open air between two trees, or in rude huts with no sides to them. The milk of the ass is preferred to that of the cow or goat. Most of the cooking is done in earthenware jars or pipkins. Earthenware jars, of a peculiar make, are also used for keeping water for drinking purposes in.
The principal exports of Venezuela are cattle, hides, tallow, and coffee from the La Guayra and Maracaybo districts. The United States consul at Bolivar, while I was there, was interested to some extent in gold mining. The quartz was brought from the Caratol mountains, nearly two hundred miles distant, on the backs of donkeys, and was purchased by the consul from the natives with merchandise. Having obtained the quartz, he crushed it, and extracted the metal, which was forwarded to the mint in Philadelphia. The mineral wealth of Venezuela is very great; gold, silver, copper, and tin abounding in large quantities. The mines, however, are, for the most part, far distant from the commercial centres, and are very inefficiently worked. It would pay capitalists to go into the mining business in Venezuela if they could get some railroads built, or even if they could get some good common roads made.
The country away from the seaboard or the watercourses is thinly settled, and there is not likely to be any great increase in the population until the facilities for easy travelling are much greater than they are, or were at the time of my visit. The roads to the mines are mere paths, not larger than cattle trails.
The natives in the interior suffer many hardships and privations, and any one going to Venezuela without ample capital, must expect to do the same. One great source of annoyance to the country people is the jigger,—a species of worm which buries itself in the feet, generally under the skin near the toe-nails. It is very painful under any circumstances, and it not infrequently causes the loss of the toes.
As in nearly all of the South American states, the government of Venezuela is very unsettled; and the schemings of ambitious politicians, who are ready at any moment to resort to arms for the accomplishment of their ends, render both life and property to some extent insecure. To be sure, the
