In the State of Cojedes, the town of San Carlos was formerly a flourishing place, but has now a very reduced population, and many formerly fine buildings are going into decay. The same sad state of things obtains at Barinas, on the River San Domingo, in the State of Zamora; its neighbourhood was formerly a famous tobacco district. Barinas is at the extremity in this direction of the telegraph service of Venezuela. Near it, at Pedraza, are some ruins, traces of an earlier Indian civilisation. In the State of Portuguesa the chief town is Guanare, founded in 1593 by Francisco de Leon. Besides the usual cattle and live-stock industries, coffee and cocoa are grown in the neighbourhood. The western part of the country was settled by the Spaniards earlier than the east, but about the towns of the western llanos there appears to be a melancholy air of past prosperity and of arrested development. They have suffered much from wars and political troubles, also from cattle plagues. Their inhabitants now depend chiefly on their cattle, mules, hides, &c.; in some places coffee, cocoa, and tobacco are grown, and there are a few simple manufactures, hammocks, straw hats, earthenware goods, sugar, cheese, &c., being the chief. Nevertheless, the western llanos undoubtedly possess great resources and convenient outlets. To the north they can communicate with Barquisimeto, Puerto Cabello, and other towns, whilst the streams on which they are situated are all tributaries of the Orinoco, or of its main feeders, thus putting them into communication with Ciudad Bolivar. If good government continues, and capital is attracted, there must come to this great territory a degree of prosperity far greater than it has enjoyed in the past, or than its present inhabitants probably even dream of. CHAPTER XIV THE CITY AND STATE OF BOLIVAR An enormous area—How to reach it—Ciudad Bolivar—Climate—San Felix—Falls of the Caroni—Trade of San Felix—Quality of “roads”—Upata—Guasipati—Balatá industry—Extravagant exploitation—Former importance—The goldfields—El Callao—The discovery—Callao Bis—Big dividends—The common pursuit—Venamo Valley—High freights—Poor quality of labour—Unsystematic working—Goldfields of Venezuela, Ltd.—Savannahs—Stock-farming—Sugar—Old settlements—An ancient bridge—Tumeremo and the balatá forests—Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs—The Caroni—An opportunity for a pioneer—Up the Orinoco—The “Gates of Hell”—The Caura—Rice and tonka-beans—_Lajas_—Rubber of the Nichare—Falls of Pará—André’s journeys—Mountains of the upper Caura—The Waiomgomos—Reticence regarding names—Ticks—Caicara—The Cuchivero—Savannahs and _sarrapiales_—Sarsaparilla—Climate of the Orinoco Valley.