THE SIERRA NEVADA AND CATHEDRAL OF MÉRIDA 168 WILLEMSTAD: CURAÇAO 178 THE HARBOUR: WILLEMSTAD 178 PUERTO CRISTOBAL COLÓN 188 RUINED CHURCH: BARCELONA 198 CASA FUERTE: BARCELONA 198 MESA OF ESNOJAQUE: TRUJILLO 208 MÉRIDA: LOOKING SOUTH FROM UNIVERSITY 208 CARRYING TILES ON OX-BACK: NEAR TOVAR 218 CROSSING THE TORBES IN FLOOD 228 THE “PITCH” LAKE: TRINIDAD 244 COUNTRY COACH: BARQUISIMETO 256 ON THE BOLIVAR RAILWAY 256 The frontispiece and the illustrations facing pages 78, 88, 98, 108, 128, 138 are taken from “Venezuela,” by N. Veloz-Goiticoa, by permission of the Bureau of South American Republics, Washington, U.S.A. VENEZUELA CHAPTER I PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF VENEZUELA Situation—Area—Population—Main physical divisions—The Guayana Highlands—Mountains, rivers, and forests—The Llanos—_Selvas_—_Mesas_—Rivers and _cienagas_—The Delta—_Caños_—The Caribbean Hills—Serrania Costanera—Serrania Interior—Rivers—Segovia Highlands—Drainage—Vegetation—The Andes—Portuguese chain—Cordillera of Mérida—The Sierra Nevada—Mountain torrents—Vegetation—_Páramos_—The Coastal Plain—Lake of Maracaibo—Coro and Paraguana Lowlands—Climate—“White-water” and “black-water” rivers—Seasons—_Tierra caliente_, _templada_, and _fria_—Temperature and seasons—“St. John’s little summer”—Health. If we take a map of South America on which the political boundaries are clearly shown, Venezuela will be observed as a wedge of territory immediately to the east of the most northerly point of the continent, separating Colombia from our colony of British Guiana. The United States of Venezuela, as this republic is officially called, lie wholly within the tropical zone, between latitude 0° 45´ N. and 12° 26´ N. and longitude 59° 35´ W. and 73° 20´ W. (from Greenwich). The area within these limits is some 1,020,400 square kilometres, or 394,000 square miles, according to the Statistical Year Book for 1908, published in Carácas in 1910. The total population, according to the same authority, is 2,664,241, these being the figures of the last census, that of 1891.