What will be the condition of Venezuela twenty or thirty years hence? The question is one to which no exact answer can be given, for it involves the consideration of so many, variable factors. We may, however, safely say that in that period there will be either no advance or a very great one; in the latter case, the country may well rival Argentine in world-importance. The resources to some of which increased prosperity will be due have already been described in the body of this volume, but we can here pass in review the chief national assets, and glance also at the methods which will have to be adopted to secure the right atmosphere for the full development of the country. In doing this, we must take into account one external event which may be expected to occur within the next two years, namely, the opening of the Panama Canal, for it will give Venezuela an opportunity such as she has never before had of developing her foreign trade by leaps and bounds. Many of her products are common to other countries equally well situated for taking advantage of the increasing shipping facilities afforded by the “Ditch,” but two of her undeveloped assets in respect of which she enjoys exceptional conditions are found in the great natural grazing-grounds and the subterranean stores of petroleum; the latter are as yet untried, but assuming that they fulfil their promise, Venezuela can supply equally well to the Pacific and the Atlantic food and fuel—_i.e._, not luxuries but necessities. The area of the Llanos has been estimated as over 100,000 square miles, so that Venezuela has here a space large enough to support a vast herd of cattle. Their markets, it is true, will still lie rather in the populous countries of Europe than in any of those brought nearer by the canal; but increased shipping facilities should encourage the improvement of stock and the development of the industry along lines which will make the country of real international importance, for it must be remembered that Venezuela is a week nearer to Europe than the other great meat-exporting country of the South, Argentina. The oil resources of Venezuela do not possess any unique qualities either from a strategic or a topographical point of view; in other words, their product is not the nearest to the line of steam-traffic to the Isthmus, nor are the fields so situated in the country that they could be worked with greater ease than, for instance, those of Trinidad or Peru. We must digress for a moment to notice more fully the importance of a strategic position, from the point of view of commerce, not of war. It is a well-known fact that one of the greatest hindrances to a more general adoption of liquid fuel, apart from the question of permanence of supplies, is the absence of regular oiling-stations, so that steamers burning petroleum are handicapped as to freedom of movement in a way in which coal-burning boats are not.