The bottom of the Guaire Valley near Carácas constitutes economically the most important part of the Federal district, for the inner slope of the Cordillera here supports only small forest or grass, while the more accessible parts of the seaward flank are barren and useless. The sugar plantations of Juan Diaz have already been mentioned, but in the neighbourhood of Carácas there are, or were, many of these, even though the climate is sufficiently cool to have allowed the cultivation of wheat in earlier days, when the Spaniards found it, as might the Venezuelans, less costly than importation. There are fine coffee plantations also in the neighbourhood of Carácas, and the elevation would point to this as one of the best coffee districts of the country; indeed, the yield obtained on some haciendas here is said to have been as much as twenty pounds to the tree. East and south of the Federal District lies the State of Miranda, including all the hills to Cape Codera and the edge of the Llanos as far as Uchire. The capital is Ocumare del Tuy, though this is not the largest town. Its name at the time of its foundation in 1692 was Sabana de Ocumare, but its proximity to the River Tuy led to the adoption of the present name as a distinction from Ocumare de la Costa. Coffee is grown on the hills in the neighbourhood, with cacao lower down, and sugar and beans in the valleys. The importance of the town is rather political than commercial at present, though the Central Railway may some time reach it and make a centre for the traffic from the Llanos, which lie southward. Petare was the largest town in Miranda at the last census, having then a population of nearly 7,000. It was founded on the Guaire, some seven miles east of Carácas, in 1704, and is a locally important manufacturing town, turning out principally _alpargatas_, cigarettes, and starch, the last named made from yuca or manioc. This town was the first terminus of the Central Railway of Venezuela, which was projected by Guzman Blanco to travel south-eastward from Carácas down the Guaire to its junction with the Tuy, then up the larger river westwards and down the Aragua to Valencia. At present it has only reached Santa Lucia, rather more than thirty miles from Carácas, and the direct German line has done away with the necessity of carrying it through to Valencia. The prosperous nature of the country under Guzman Blanco made the enterprise extremely promising, but the long series of revolutions and counter-revolutions since his day have kept the freight down to a minimum. Better days may be in store for the line, however, when the owners of the rich coffee, cocoa, and sugar lands which it taps rise to their opportunities, and an extension to Ocumare should bring it an ever-increasing amount of traffic in the produce of the Llanos.