The prosperity of Willemstad, it is evident, does not depend upon natural products, of which there are none; even the oranges with which the famous liqueur was made are not grown in Curaçao now, but the building of small sloops and supplies for these, with the custom of visitors who come to buy in a free-trade market and avoid the all but prohibitive prices behind Venezuela’s tariff wall, provide work for the numerous warehouses, not to mention the illicit trade with the mainland. The official returns show straw hats as the most considerable export, although formerly a fair amount of guano and phosphate of lime was shipped away. With a water supply dependent upon casual rains and a few shallow wells, there can be no drainage system, but the dryness of the climate and the stringent sanitary regulations combine to give Curaçao absolute freedom from epidemics and a deserved reputation as a health resort. The smaller islands of the Las Aves, Los Roques, and other groups used, like Curaçao, to export a considerable quantity of guano, and phosphate produced by atmospheric action from coral limestones under the guano. Now, however, the few small settlements are mere fishing villages, whose catch is sold on the mainland. CHAPTER XII IN THE “ORIENTE” Restricted use of term “Oriente”—Margarita—Asunción—Porlamar and Pampatar—Macanao—A primitive population—The priests, the comet, and the people—Cubagua—Pearl fisheries—Coche—Cumaná—Las Casas—A diving feat—Petroleum and salt—Fruit—The Manzanares—Cumanacoa—In the hills—San Antonio and its church—The Guacharo cave—Humboldt—Virgin territory—Punceres—Oil-springs—The Bermudez asphalt lake—Carúpano—“_Ron blanco_”—Sulphur and gold—Rio Caribe—Peninsula of Paria—Cristobal Colón—An ambitious project—The Delta—the _Golfo Triste_—Pedernales—Asphalt and outlaws—In the _caños_—Tucupita—Barrancas—Imataca iron-mines—Canadian capital for Venezuela—Guayana Vieja. As the term “Oriente” is used to-day in Venezuela, it includes the cities of Barcelona, Maturín and Ciudad Bolivar, with their surrounding districts, but since these are more fitly considered in succeeding chapters, the use of the word is restricted here to the eastern part of the Caribbean Hills, the Island of Margarita, and the Delta of the Orinoco. The “Oriente” thus includes those parts, not only of Venezuela but of the New Continent, which were first visited by Europeans. The names of the Boca del Draco (between the peninsula of Paria and Trinidad) and of Margarita were given by Columbus; Cubagua supported the first settlement of adventurers, and the shores westward of Cumaná were visited by Alonso de Ojeda on his first voyage.