le, specimens of the following: Cacao and its
products, ivory nuts, cinchona bark, crude nitrate, Panama straw, iodine
(in a sealed vial), llama wool, alpaca cloth, Peruvian cotton.

CHAPTER XXIV

SOUTH AMERICA--THE LOWLAND STATES

The eastern countries of South America are mainly lowland plains. The
llanos of the Orinoco and the pampas of Plate (La Plata) River are
grazing lands. The silvas of the Amazon are forest-covered. In tropical
regions the coast-plain is usually very unhealthful; the seaports
excepted, most of the cities and towns are therefore built on higher
land beyond the coast-plain.

=Venezuela.=--The greater part of Venezuela is a region of llanos, or
grassy plains, shut off from the harbors of the Caribbean Sea, by
mountain-ranges. On account of their pleasant climate the
mountain-valleys constitute the chief region of habitation. The plains
are flooded in the rainy season and sun-scorched during the period of
drought; they are therefore unfit for human habitation.

Coffee is cultivated in the montane region; and cacao in the lower coast
lands. Almost every part of the coast lowlands is fit for sugar
cultivation, and in order to encourage this industry, the importation of
sugar is forbidden. As is usual in similar cases, the domestic sugar is
poor in quality and high in price. Among the forest products rubber,
fustic, divi-divi,[64] and tonka beans, the last used as a perfume, are
the only ones of value. The cattle of the llanos, the native long-horns,
furnish a poor quality of hide, and poorer beef. A few thousand head are
shipped yearly down the Orinoco to be sent to Cuba and Porto Rico.

The placer gold-mines of the Yuruari country, a region also claimed by
Great Britain, have been very productive. Coal, iron ore, and asphaltum
are abundant. Concessions for mining the two last-named have been
granted to American companies. The pearl-fisheries around Margarita
Island, also leased to a foreign company, have become productive under
the new management.

The means of intercommunication are as primitive as those of Colombia.
Short railways extend from several seaports to the regions of
production, and from these coffee and cacao are the only exports of
importance. The Orinoco River is the natural outlet for the
cattle-region, but the commerce of this region is small. The lagoon of
Maracaibo is becoming the centre of a rapidly growing commercial region.

_Caracas_, the capital and largest c