Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 3 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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The Experiment Of Forming This Establishment Was Tried In A
Very Unhealthy Spot, The Valley Of Quebranta, Near Guirie; I Have
Already Adverted To The Causes Of Its Destruction.
The insalubrity of
the place would, doubtless, have diminished in proportion as the
forest (el monte virgen) should have been removed from the dwellings
of the inhabitants.
Mulattos, and not whites, ought to have been
employed in hewing the wood, and it should have been remembered that
the expense of the roads (arastraderos) for the transport of the
timber, when once laid out, would not have been the same, and that, by
the increase of the population, the price of day labour would
progressively have diminished. It is for ship-builders alone, who
determine the localities, to judge whether, in the present state of
things, the freight of merchant-vessels be not far too high to admit
of sending to Europe large quantities of roughly-hewn wood; but it
cannot be doubted that Venezuela possesses on its maritime coast, as
well as on the banks of the Orinoco, immense resources for
ship-building. The fine ships which have been launched from the
dockyards of the Havannah, Guayaquil and San Blas have, no doubt, cost
more than those constructed in Europe; but from the nature of tropical
wood they possess the advantages of hardness and amazing durability.
The great struggle during which Venezuela has fought for independence
has lasted more than twelve years. That period has been no less
fruitful than civil commotions usually are in heroic and generous
actions, guilty errors and violent passions. The sentiment of common
danger has strengthened the ties between men of various races who,
spread over the plains of Cumana or insulated on the table-land of
Cundinamarca, have a physical and moral organization as different as
the climates in which they live. The mother-country has several times
regained possession of some districts; but as revolutions are always
renewed with more violence when the evils that produce them can no
longer be remedied these conquests have been transitory. To facilitate
and give greater energy to the defence of this country the governments
have been concentrated, and a vast state has been formed, extending
from the mouth of the Orinoco to the other side of the Andes of
Riobamba and the banks of the Amazon. The Capitania-General of Caracas
has been united to the Vice-royalty of New Grenada, from which it was
only separated entirely in 1777. This union, which will always be
indispensable for external safety, this centralization of powers in a
country six times larger than Spain, has been prompted by political
views. The tranquil progress of the new government has justified the
wisdom of those views, and the Congress will find still fewer
obstacles in the execution of its beneficent projects for national
industry and civilization, in proportion as it can grant increased
liberty to the provinces, must render the people sensible to the
advantages of institutions which they have purchased at the price of
their blood.
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