principal wealth of the landed proprietors of these desert tracts. The aspect of the country is agreeably diversified by lakes and rivers. Of the lakes, those of Maracaibo and Valencia are the largest. The breadth of the former is 50 leagues, and its length 30; the latter is 14 leagues in breadth, and 6 in length. Every part of the country abounds in rivers, which, if they have not a sufficient quantity of water for navigation, would, however, afford a far greater quantity for irrigation than is at present required for this purpose by the indolent inhabitants of this fertile country. We

have already mentioned, that a ridge of the Andes, of moderate elevation, runs through the whole of the Caraccas, in a winding course, from east to west. This range is the highest ground in the country, and, consequently, forms the dividing ridge between the streams which run south and those which run north. The latter rise on the northern declivity of these mountains, and fall into the Carribean Sea. The principal of these are the Guiges, Tocuyo, Aroa, Yaracuy, Tuy, Unara, Neveri, Manzanares. Their course is generally down a channel of considerable declivity, and is therefore rapid; and their banks are so high, that they form a natural barrier against the irruption of the stream, so that it seldom overflows. All the rivers which have their rise on the southern declivity of these mountains run southward, and descend into the common channel of the great Orinoco, into which flow all the waters of that vast valley which is bounded on the north by the ridge of mountains already mentioned, and on the south by the ridge which divides the streams that fall into the Orinoco from those that fall into the Amazons or Maranon. As these rivers have their course through level plains, their beds are shallower than those which run down the declivity of the mountains; and, in the rainy season, accordingly, they mingle their waters during a great part of the year, and resemble rather one vast sea than rivers which have overflowed their banks. The most considerable of those rivers which fall into the Orinoco are the Mamo, the Pariagon and Pao, the Chivata and Zoa, the Cachimamo, the Aracay, the Manapira and Espino, and, lastly, the great river Apure, which enters the

Orinoco by a variety of channels, and which, with its numerous tributary streams, inundates, during the rainy season, a great proportion of the country through which it flows. This inundation covers a larger space as the rivers approach the ocean; and, at the mouth of the Orinoco, the flat country presents a vast sea of fresh water to the extent of nearly 600 miles. The rise of the rivers commences in April, and about October they begin to retire from the flat country, and continue falling till the end of February, when they generally are at the lowest.

The population of the Caraccas is chiefly concentrated on the northern declivity of the mountains which traverse the country. The principal towns are also established in this quarter;-these are, Caraccas, the capital, containing 34,000 inhabitants, and situated in 10° 31' N. lat., at an elevation of 460 toises, which secures it against the scorching heats usual in the tropical regions; Cumana, containing 24,000 inhabitants, and situated on the coast of the Carribean Sea, in lat. 10° 37' N.; Porto Cabello, or Cavello, containing 7500 inhabitants, situated in 10° 20′ N. lat., 90 miles west from Caraccas, on the shore of the Carribean Sea; Valencia, containing 6500 inhabitants, situated on the beautiful lake of the same name, in lat. 10° 9' N.; Maracay, population 8400; Guira, population 6000, situated on the coast of the Carribean Sea, and liable to putrid fevers-in this place Reaumur's thermometer rises to from 25° to 28° degrees-it is 15 miles west from Caraccas; Tulmero, containing 8000 inhabitants, and situated on the Lake of Valencia ; Victoria, 18 miles east of Tulmero, and containing 7800 inhabitants; Coro, containing 10,000 inhabitants, and situated in N. lat. 10° 8', 72 miles west from Caraccas; Carora, containing 6200 inhabitants, situated in N. lat. 10°, 45 miles east of Lake Maracaibo, and 270 west of Caraccas; Barquisimeto, population 11,300, situated in 9° 45′ N. lat. The heat in this place is frequently 28 and 29° of Reaumur-it is 120 miles WSW. of Caraccas; Tocuyo, population 10,000, situated in N. lat. 9° 35′, 270 miles SW. of Caraccas; Guanara, population 12,300, situated in 8° 14' N. lat., 279 miles SW. from Caraccas.

(To be continued.)

EXTRACTS FROM THE CORRESPON-
DENCE OF A TRAVELLER VISITING

ITALY.

[These letters were not written with the intention of being published, which is one of their recommendations. They contain the natural expression of the feelings and observations of a well informed traveller on a most interesting route, and appeared to the friend to whom they were addressed to contain both information and enter tainment, which would be acceptable to others.]

Geneva, 29th September 1817.

I WRITE to you from Les Balances, the best inn of this deservedly celebrated place. I arrived here yesterday at half past five in the afternoon, on the ninth day of my journey, having left Paris on the 20th, at eight A. M. I had to wait two hours in the street that morning in consequence of the stupidity of a Sicilian, who had not got his passport, and the laziness of Pasta and his wife, (who sang at the Opera House in London lately,) and in consequence of the toilet business of some of the ladies, my fellow travellers. We were to have started at six. My journey hither has been, upon the whole, pleasant enough. Domenico Cervelli (the voiturier) is very complaisant and attentive; a big, very robust, and formidable looking, good natured Roman, between forty and fifty. I have been extremely fortunate in procuring the services of an Italian domestic of a mature age, (about fifty,) who has been in service with a number of very respectable people, and who has a most excellent character for sobriety, honesty, goodnature, attention, and economy. He has been in England, Spain, Portugal, and the West Indies, and has travelled through France, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland, several times, with his different masters. The Vetturino is hard enough work for me, although certainly preferable, in most respects, to the Diligence. I rise every morning at four, at the latest, because we go on but slowly, and it is necessary to set off very early every day, in order to accomplish the set distance before night-fall, as the vetturino does not travel during the night. I have been thrice roused at three in the morning, the other times at four. We generally reached our Auberge for the night about seven or eight in the evening;

VOL. II.

66

however, I do not feel knocked up at
all, and hope to stand out to the end.
I shall not at present enter into parti-
culars about my journey from Paris
to Morez, fourteen and a half leagues
from Geneva, but shall endeavour to
give you some faint idea of what I
saw yesterday; a day on which I re-
ceived impressions never to be effa-
ced. We left Morez at four o'clock
in the morning, and passed through it
on foot, the moon shining brightly upon
the dark wooded rocks and hills that
surround this town. We continued
to walk on about two miles to save the
horses during a steep ascent; the
moon disappearing gradually behind
the hills, while from the east step-
ped forth the morning," truly the
jododánτuxos nas. The equal dif
fusion of a fine crimson colour on the
clear sky of the mountainous horizon,
foretold a delightful day, and it was
so,-warm, pure, and bright. We
passed the custom-house at Les Rous-
ses, without being searched, our pass-
ports only were demanded ;-beauti-
ful scenery all the way;—our road
wound along the sides of the moun-
tain, and overhung beautiful valleys,
from the sides of which shot up tall
fir-trees, their tops level with our
mountain path;-the road in many
places narrow, and bordering on the
most giddy precipices ;—the bottoms
of the valleys seen at a most profound
depth, with a few small houses scat-
tered here and there. About ten o'clock
Vincenzo (my servant) came to the door
of the vetturino, and desired me to
alight, and come with him. I did so,
and he led me to the summit of a
little hill which rose by the side of
the road, between the barrier hills,
through which we were passing; we
were in the department of Lain.
Pointing towards what I conceived
(without a glass) to be an immense
assemblage of dark clouds, with white
edges, on the distant horizon, he ut-
tered the electrical words, "Voilà
Mont Blanc !" On looking through
my glass, I beheld a scene that pro-
duced a thrilling impression which
I cannot describe. The sudden view
of this stupendous mountain, and his
gigantic Alpine brethren, with the
beautiful dark blue lake of Geneva
reposing at their feet, amidst a richly
cultivated valley, produced a strange
and overpowering emotion of mingled
awe, wonder, and pleasure. The eter◄

B

an hour or two at one of the houses of this colossus. We reached Sesto of refuge, built for the accommodation Calende about 8, crossing the Tesino of travellers. We had some poor fare on a raft. Evening dreadfully bad; by way of breakfast, and warmed our piercingly cold, and dense mist, and benumbed limbs by the side of a wood heavy rains. The sides of the road fire that blazed on the hearth. The from Gravelona to the ferry, emair extremely chill. Set off again and bellished with the most beautiful began to descend on the other side, plantations of vines; the vines suphaving left the three additional horses ported by rude wooden frames, and and our guide before we reached the the huge thick clusters of ripe purbarrier near the village of Simplon. ple and white grapes hanging down We passed innumerable bridges, and from the top, ready for the hand of several long excavations, or tunnels, any one who entered into these luxucut through the solid rock. These riant labyrinths. One of my fellow dark hideous passages are among the travellers ventured to alight and pull most extraordinary works of this sin- some of the grapes, but was seized in gular road. One of them is about the act by a most singular figure of 300 feet in length, and cut through an Argus, who rushed out of a thicket the eternal ice of a glacier! But it is of vines from the opposite side of the needless to attempt a description of road, and presented an old musket to the route, to know what it is, you the thief's head,-the matter was acmust see it. You would imagine it commodated after a horrible squabble the result of the labours of Aladdin's in good Italian, bad Italian, and ingenie, not of human beings. It was different French. This guardian had completed in three years, at an im- half of an old sabre sticking out from mense expence, and by the daily and his rump in the most grotesque mannightly efforts of a vast number of ner imaginable, and was altogether a workmen. We reached Domo d'Os- perfect caricature of armed humanity sola when it was quite dark, so could We started at six from Sesto Calende see nothing of the place. We left and reached Milan about seven. The it at 3 o'clock next morning, and ar- road was not particularly interesting, rived at Gravelona, beside the Lago and the weather execrable; a number Maggiore, about 10 o'clock in the of houses by the way were adorned forenoon. Mist and rain hindered us with paintings of Madonnas and scripfrom seeing the beauties of the scenery tural subjects in fresco upon the at this place. Weather excessively plastered walls; some of the paintings cold. Rested two hours, and set off very good, but all injured by time and for Sesto Calende, where we were to weather. sleep. The mist cleared away a little, and allowed us (in passing along the side of Lago Maggiore) to see the beautiful Borromean Islands in the lake. One of them is covered with beautiful Italian buildings, and rich trees and shrubs, and is the occasional residence of the family to whom these islands belong, and from whom they take their name. Near Arona there is an immense colossal statue of the famous Charles Borromeo, upon the summit of a hill on the left side of the road going to Sesto Calende. This statue is of bronze, and is 66 feet in height, exclusive of the pedestal, which is 46 feet; it rises most majestically out of the trees that cover the hill, and is seen a great way off. It is reckoned a very fine work of art. There is a stair-case inside, by which you ascend to the head. An Italian author says that a man (not very big) may sit down conveniently in the nose

Florence, 15th Oct.

I am at last safely lodged at Schneider's Hotel, in the midst of this beautiful city, and its still more beautiful environs. The Arno flows within a few yards of the door,-it is the boundary of one side of the street. I arrived here this morning at half-past nine, having passed two days and half among the Appenines, being half a day longer than we took to pass the Alps. On both occasions exceedingly bad weather. It is now very cold,— much colder than I expected to find it, in this garden of Italy, as Tuscany is commonly called. My usual winter flannels are all put in requisition. I am just as well pleased now that I did not go on to Naples, as I once intended. This journey has been quite enough for me,-upon the whole hard work;-latterly roused at half-past two or three o'clock in the morning, after