Show BOUT REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA I I hort liistory of Country Upon Which Eyes of Civilized World Are Now Centered 1J 1 1r J r l lias Been Settled and I Comparatively Well Defended Country for I r r Over Four Hundred I YearsRich in Timber i r and Minerals i t E Although the republic of Venezuela Ass been a somewhat settled and com pasitUely well cfined country for peer 400 y arx It was not until recently i recent-ly that the attention of the people of io United States became strongly at racicri to this sister republic on theE the-E lh American continent Venezuela Indeed has been practlc i1fFr left to the unaided resources of lhclolnnlnt of its own Inhabitants nee the pulod when the ancient Spanish Span-ish conqutroit abandoned the territory 1 fr thf + of othet regions on the slopes if r the Ancles where the precious metals s 13 ecmlngly much more abundant itl wore to bi had with the cxpendl S ftre Infinitely less l time and ttoublc Drlng these several centuries the r nntry slumbnrsd nnd Its vortderful atuinl resources lay undiscovered I Thfri v lt In part due to the situation I t the country and lit part the conBc y wico of the easycoins disposition of 1 I dcTenilanta of the original Span h Inhabitants Immigration however iJded to the awakened spirit of the je has astonishingly quickened the bul ° cs of the Venezuelans as is at tated by I the uipld growth and quickly jfrfcetul f character of their chief cities t3lAlIy Caraca the capital of the nan f na-n amt of its federal districts which fu be fit llkenM by travelers to Paris n a J smaller scale FIRST SEEN I3Y CorUM US Th Thief knowledge of Venezuela pine 1 from the school geographies of a fluart < r of a century ago was clicum ifribod by the fact that It was the first had e > rn by l Columbuu on his third giyox to the west and that It was traversed by the Orinoco one of the atest tjers of the world It was pictured as a region of limitless tropic forcBtH Immense plains and vast mountain moun-tain ranges Venezuela has frequently been styled In reference to Its dispute with England Eng-land over Its boundary line a small eotmtry It Is so only In the compara Ivc sense when contrasted In the mind figuratively I with the enormous development devel-opment and compact civilization oft STiraent Great Britain Venezuela Is a large country t larger than France Germany nnd Holland combined It to equal In bclcnt to the great States of Texas I Colorado Idaho and California Joined icgctlur Including the territory In dLipute with England Venezuela has an area of almost COOOOO square miles I Visitors to the Chicago Worlds Fair tfT astonished to flee the variety of ate production of Venezuela there dls jlayed These included many kinds of maize I starch sugar and sugar cane honey beans coffee cocoa chocolate tobacco h mp palm loaves cotton illkcotton Pllkwool vegetable horse loir l vegetable l sponge mineral wa ius t alcoholic and other beverages astor beans i castor oil crab oil sassafras sassa-fras oil vanilla soaps beeswax orna c ntal woo 3s dyeing and tanning codH < and barks gums resins and rioutchour brooms baskets fibers fr reserved < fruits coal gold and silver lcsto copper opul talc calcic spar plena tonka bcami lignite petroleum garble paving stones stalactites kao Ijn plptclay magnealun limestone iltre sulphur rubber indigo phos Tate guano Iron ore mustard sar flrarll1n cinchona bark cola nuts tamarinds and aloes a I WOODS IN GREAT VARIETY I jof forest woods alone there were 14G ttrlc ties Including n line specimen of ie alRiirobo a beautiful wood of dark Tdlowlsh color streaked with green I I tln4 Thcn > were besides many apecl ipina of prepared products chemical d and pharmaceutical nod of manufac tuns not to npeak of a collection of paintings by Venezuelan artists and of I JDianj book and newspapers 14Venezuela lies altogether within the torrid equatorial region the great line nanBlni through Ihej I southernmost ter tory of AHoAmnronaB Notwlth lianlln tiil the temperature of the i untry Is much milder than that of lh it African equatorial coast lan sfor I stance Guinea and Zanzibar SILted SIL-ted it the northern end of South merles with the Carrlbboan seat to t e north the Atlantic ocean on the I U L and high mountaIns In the In rlor 1 rnezucla is peculiarly favored 6 the natiirnl elements Three moun t1 In ranreu rear snocapped summits the kthe Andes the Coast Range 11 the Parlma mountains The Andes c foss the northwestern ntatos from rLhelt to southwest The Coast M 10 run parallel with the Carlb an ex t t The Parlma mountains Inning In the interior t of the contra i cat < rn Stati of Bolivar run cast and cat and mark the southern limit of agricultural zone reniuela has the shape of a throc ifel clover with the stem on the rlbbcan roast Speaking Kunornlly irly every State In the country Is moiineui to + ome degree Aiuong e mountnins the country varlca In pclarurl from moderate to very fl Th tr rnporate lajids begin at the S ght jf 700j feel above and descend t11 1 within 000 feet of the Ben level I W that level are the hot countries n t ONLY TWO SEASONS There are but two seasons In rene t b the Ht and the dry When the ii J t reaches thi Tropic of Capricorn the htH begin and they do not stop until sun hi3 tntrrcMl the Tropic of Can y tf ThuK it Is rainy and hot from f1rU i to October and the rest of the r ta r It In I dry and cooler During the t0 comer the prevailing wInds arc from A northeast There are heavy rain f orrna callel norlhera usually In t ° ernb i r and December tIh > ro nIl over 1000 rivers nnd brooks nizurla of which over 100 are af ii II enl of the > Orinoco The Orinoco la iRablr DSO miles from the ocean andO and-O pr 1 hf fertile regions In thu interior 4 o the Colombia republic Some of the j 1 > Gable tributaries of the Orinoco k I t 4 1 I7Xr i run south and join the Amazon or Its I tributaries thun opening a double route to the sea Besides this network of rivers there arc two large Inland lakes on of which Lake Maracalbo Is an large as the Great Salt lake in Utah with an area of 2100 square miles The other Lake Valencia Is 1700 feel above the sea level 1 There are three kinds 1 of soil In Venezuela Vene-zuela agricultural grazing and wooded wood-ed There are 13600 square miles of agricultural land of which only 300 square miles are under cultivation The Orinoco sweeps over the arc of an Immense I Im-mense circle entering on the east coast and emerging from the country on the southwest border There are over seventy sev-enty islands on the coast the largest Margarita being 411 square miles In area There me over 1SOO miles of coast scattered along along which are thirtytwo harbors and fifty bays Like the great lakes of the United States the two great Inland lakes of Venezuela Vene-zuela have their t own ports There are lIe gulfs on the ocean coast the largest larg-est of which is the Gulf of Muracailx 1600 square miles in extent MINERAL WEALTH There arc many mines In operation throughout Venezuela the more valuable valu-able being the Yuruarl region which I gIn g-In the disputed territory There Is situated sit-uated the famous Callao gold mine Gold Is also found In the mountainous liquids of the Yaracul river and near the cities of San Felipe and Nlrgua Several rich gold mines near Carupano are being worked with New York capital capi-tal and have assayed seven ounces to the ton There arc silver copper and cad mines In Venezuela Several miles ells of Puerto Cabello are the valuable Aroa copper mine > > from which comes the red copper In the Cordillera region re-gion arc red hematite and lion deposits The largest deposits of these ore are near the Imataca river which Is one of the tributaries of the lower Orinoco A dozen miles from Barcelona arc extensive exten-sive deposits of bituminous coal 1 The Pedernales asphalt Is similar to theE the-E yptlan refined product There are rich salt beds In the Araya peninsula which have been constantly worked since lUD when they were discovered dis-covered by Nino In the last quarter of a century they have produced a Government revenue of 2700000 In Lagicnlllas near Morlda there Is a lake the bottom of which Is covered wIth sesqulcarbonale of soda which the natives call urao There are large deposits of sulphur in Barcelona Cre mona and Coro and there are Inexhaustible Inex-haustible granite quarries in the Silla mounlaln near Caracas Granite chalk slate and marble abound on the coast and In the Parlma mountains Over line tons of solid bold were taken from the Yuruarl mines from 18SG to lOO In Coro at La Quiva near the Pedregal road there are forty springs which gush through beds as white as porcelain Agriculture In Venezuela Is I nalnly confined to the raising of coffee cocoa and sugar cane There are mo therofpcar deposits In Neuva Esparto Espar-to THE CONSTITUTION Venezuela IB a federal republic Its Constitution is modeled on those of the United States and Switzerland It gives autonomy to the Slates In the confederation confed-eration There are open elections free speech fret press religious liberty security se-curity of person and property prohibition prohi-bition of slavery and no Imprisonment for debt But In Venezuela there Is no writ of habeas corpus and no trial by Jury The legislative power hi lodged In a Senate and a House of Deputies There are three Senators from each State and with their alternatives al-ternatives they serve four years One Deputy Is apportioned to each 35000 inhabitants The Venezuelan Congress I consists of twentyseven Senators and fiftythree Deputies The population of Venezuela Is 2 100000 by the latest census On the peace footing the army numbers 7000 men In case of war the effective force can be raised to 60000 men The annual an-nual revenue of the country is 5BOO 000 of which twothirds Is from customs cus-toms duties Venezuela Imports annually nually 13rMjO000 worth of merchandise and exports 16000000 worth The principal export Is coffee equal to 1G 000000 per annum Venezuela buys 51 000000 worth of goods yearly from Great Britain and sells John Bull only 500000 worth annually The United I States bought J12000000 worth of I goods from Venezuela In 1891 Venezuela Vene-zuela haft borrowed from deputy from each State and a deputy from French bankers 750000 The Internal debt amounts to 7GOO000 THE GOVERNMENT The executive power of Venezuela Is vested In a president who acts in conJunction con-Junction with his cabinet and the federal fed-eral council lIe holds office two yearn and cannot be at once reelected The Federal Council Is composed of a Senator Sen-ator and Deputy from each State and Deputy from tho Federal district chosen by Congress from among Its own members for the term of two years The Federal Council chooses the President of Venezuela from its own ranks The courts are organized much like those In the United Slates There Is a system of free public schools The Federal district corresponds to the District Dis-trict of Columbia The chief city of Venezuela Is the capital Caracas It has a population of 75000 persons The other chief cities arc Valencia 10000 population Mara calbo 35000 Barqulslmcto 32000 and Cludad Bolivar 12000 In one of the fine public squares In Caracas Is a large statue of George Washington Venezuela remained under Spanish rule until 1S11 when Simon Bolivar proclaimed her independent The independence in-dependence of Venezuela was recognized recog-nized by Spain In 1S45 In IS 16 a series of civil wars began and did not clot until ISO All slaves were emancipated emanci-pated In 1SS1 In 1S6J a Federal Constitution Con-stitution was drawn up Guzman Blanco became dictator In 1870 when he was elected President The people of Venezuela are In the main descended from the Spaniards A good deal of Indian blood has been mingled with the Spanish strain They are a talcntcd and courteous people who bear the reputation of being good fighters A considerable port of Vcne zuela IB still practically unexplored and Is Inhabited by aborigines Thp republic re-public is divided Into nine States a Federal district and five Federal Territories Ter-ritories There arc 3300 miles of telegraph tele-graph wire Five steamship lines ply along the Venezuelan coasts and through the rivers There are 23i miles J1r l < r I I I JL t p J 01 of railroads The monetary unit of the country Is the bolivar equal to 10 4 1 cents American money Caracas the capital is stunted in the Valley < of Chacao seven miles distant from tho Caribbean coast The city Is regularly laid out There arc two main streets which cross each other at right angles There are several fine parks The city was almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake In 1812 Denver News |