The river-valleys and mountain-slopes of Carabobo are often forest-covered, and wild rubber is sufficiently common to be collected. From all the western region of the State the produce of field and farm is brought by road to Valencia, and thence, if intended for export, sent down the English railway to Puerto Cabello. This line was begun during the construction of that from La Guaira to Carácas, but presented in some respects a less difficult task, since the highest point to which it must rise to cross the watershed of the coastal cordillera is only 1,950 feet above the sea. The original scheme of ordinary traction was changed to include a short piece of 8 per cent. grade with a rack engine, working on a cogged centre rail, the rest of the descent is then easily accomplished. Puerto Cabello has one of the best harbours in Venezuela, which possesses the additional merit of being entirely natural. The name is a witness to the excellence of the shelter, since the Spaniards changed Borburata to Cabello in token of the fact that in calm waters of the harbour a ship would be held with a hair (Sp. _Cabello_). On the outer side are the red iron-roofed buildings of the Venezuela Naval Dockyard, next door to the fortress, the submarine dungeons of which have too often been occupied by innocent men, both in colonial and republican times. Through Puerto Cabello is exported most of the produce of Carabobo, Yaracuy, and the Llano States of Cojedes and Portuguesa, with some from Lara, Trujillo, and Mérida. The new buildings of the Venezuela Meat Syndicate are near the station, an enterprise which seems likely, when once fairly started, to give Puerto Cabello an increasing importance, in addition to encouraging improvement in stock-farming. The various members of the staff make up a small English colony, who are largely responsible for the presence of English papers in the waterside club, a pleasant place to spend the sultry evenings. Round about the port there are numbers of attractive villas and plantations, but the most fruitful land is in the neighbourhood of Ocumare, some twenty miles eastward along the coast. The town is situated near the mouth of a deep valley, and, but for the sea breezes, would be unbearably hot. As it is, the climate which would, untempered, be so unpleasant for men, is excellent for cocoa, and that of Ocumare has a deserved fame. From the higher lands behind come cattle and cereals to swell the trade of the town, whose population has increased greatly since the last census.