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550 Sugar is made to some extent from the cane, which bears a strong resemblance to the maple sugar of the United States. Yams and sweet potatoes are very abundant, and there is a hardy species of cabbage which grows on the edges of marshes, and which sometimes attains a height of eighteen or twenty feet. The calabashes grow to an enormous size, and are used for carrying water. The onions are numerous, but small.

The flowers grow in great profusion, and are very beautiful. The mariposa attains to the height of the oleander, and has gorgeous white and scarlet blossoms. The zueco is a bright little plant, and is very fragrant. The people of Venezuela are exceedingly fond of flowers, and always have a great number of them about their dwellings.

The birds of Venezuela, for the most part, are of very rich plumage. There are several varieties of parrots, of which the macaw, and the green and gray parrots, are the talkers. The paroquets are very diminutive, and are beautiful little birds. The cock of the rocks, which is the color of the redbird of the United States, is easily domesticated; it has a ruffle of feathers about an inch in length, which encircles its neck from the wings to the beak. The ayax is a bird that is heard last in the evening and first in the morning; it has a very peculiar cry, and the natives are exceedingly superstitious about it, thinking that should they kill it some misfortune is certain to happen to them.

The lizards and other reptiles are too numerous for description. In the huts of the poorer classes, lizards, scorpions, roaches, and other live stock live on the most intimate terms with the human inhabitants, and do not appear to interfere very materially with their comfort.

The forests and jungles are filled with panthers, jaguars, and South American tigers. The last named are very ferocious, and the natives stand in great fear of them. The people of Venezuela are very superstitious, and are exceedingly particular about their religious observances. In their manners they are courteous and unaffected, and some of their household ways are very primitive. Their meat is cured in strips, and their corn is ground between two stones, the under one of which is hollowed out to some extent. This kind of work is chiefly done by the women. The men make