Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/556

514 Aguirre' say the natives, who, after more than three hundred years, are still haunted by the legends associated with this sixteenth -century corsair. The vapors rising from certain asphalt lakes similar to that of Trinidad are also said at times to be subject to spontaneous combustion." It might have been well if there had been a few active volcanoes in the country during recent times. Venezuela has suffered some terrible earthquakes, and on the theory that these disturbances are due to pent-up underground forces, the existence of natural vents would have prevented them. In 1550 an earthquake occurred, accompanied by a tidal wave, which swept away the settlement of Cumaná, and the same place suffered severely in 1700, after which the ground continued to tremble for fifteen months. One of the most destructive shocks, by which Carácas was laid in ruins with a loss of twelve thousand lives, occurred in 1812, during the war for independence. "The indirect consequences of this disaster," says Reclus, "were even more deplorable than the catastrophe itself. It certainly prolonged the ruinous war probably for years, and greatly intensified its horrors. The event having taken place on Holy Thursday, the anniversary of the declaration of independence, the priests, nearly all of whom belonged to the Spanish party, declared that the hand of God had wrought the ruin in order to crush the revolution." Thousands of superstitious revolutionists, including Miranda, the general in chief, laid down their arms, and the Spaniards secured fortified places and other advantages that were recovered only at great cost.

In a country so much upheaved a variety of minerals will naturally be found accessible. There are rich deposits of gold in the region east of the Orinoco bordering on British Guiana, which accounts for the ownership of part of that territory having been in dispute for half a century. The famous mine El Callao has yielded over three million dollars a year. Its upper levels have been pretty well worked out, so that its present output is secured by deep mining operations. As an export, gold ranks next after coffee and cacao. Considerable copper ore is exported, mainly the product of the Aroa mines in the Maritime Alps, near the northern coast. Lead and tin are also found. If Venezuela owned all the islands that lie off its coast it would have an important source of mineral wealth in the famous asphalt lake. La Brea, on Trinidad. But Trinidad and Tobago had been taken from Spain by Great Britain, while Curaçoa, Buen Aire, and Oruba had been appropriated by the Dutch, before Venezuela secured its independence. The mainland, however, is by no means devoid of bituminous deposits—asphalt, petroleum, jet, and bituminous coal being obtained in various localities. Other useful minerals found are sulphur, kaolin, and phosphate rock. Margarita, the largest of the islands