Baton Rouge tri-weekly gazette & comet. [volume] (Baton Rouge, La.) 1865-18??, 1867-05-30
LETTER FisOM vENEZUEf a,

We have perused (says the Mobile
Times of the 10th inst a letter
written to one of our citizens by a
friend who has emigrated to Vene-
zuela, and are permitted to copy the
following portion Guiana, now one
of the Venezuelan States, is what
was formerly known as Spanish
Guiana. It embraces the Delta of
the Oronoco, and all the region south
and east of that river to the frontier
of British Guiana and Brazil. Its
area is 226,563 square miles, with a
population in 1854 of 63,73S, which,
we think, has considerably increased
since that date. Ciudad Bolivar, the
capital of the State, is better known
on the maps by its old name Of
Angostura
C1uDAD BOLIVAR GUYANA,
U. S. of Venezuela, March %, 1873
s. You are aware
that / had made up my mind to go
to Brazil, but | happened to meet
John G. Kay, who told me that he
knew the party about to start for this
place, and ON seeing them, l con-
cluded it was good thing, and came
with them. Now let me tell you,
that it is just the place for you to
make another fortune, and | hope to
See you out here soon.
With one of the most splendid
rivers in the world, the most fertile
soil, and the richest mines Id the in
terror, you can hardly believe the
fact that there is not a dray or cart
in this city. A cart or carriage is
unknown, and that in a city which
had population of $4,000 persons,
but is now smaller on account of the
rush to the gold mines. Everything,
from machinery, now coming out for
the mines, to dry goods boxes. has
to be carried up to the city, either on
the shoulders of men or on pack
saddles by mules or asses. These.
by the way, can be bought for about
1926 each.
The price of horses, mules and
cattle has been seriously affected by
the rush to the mines, and the fact
that a disease similar to the rinder-I
pest has ragged here, but that is
now over. s-4.45az-
The river up to this point from
the mouth, ranges from one to four
miles in width, but the only steam
boat running here is the Albion,
from this to Trinidad and Caracas,
making the trip monthly.
The country about here is sand y,
but there is much that is black and
all is rich and fertile The people
take no pains to cultivate, seeming
to think that where nature has done
SO much for them, it is not necessary
for them to do anything for them
selves. 1t is said that you can break
a branch from almost any tree, stick
it in the ground, and it will grow !;
and [ know that, without digging or
blowing, they stick their seeds, corn
and banana or plantain slips in the
ground, cover them up and wait for
a crop; sometimes, with a hoe,
loosening the earth around the roots,
but never burdening themselves with
much work. The fences are of the
most primitive character, and none
of them would keep out stock of
any kind.
Cotton of very long staple is
produced here; rough sugar loaves
(called pe1oncla) can be bought for
about three cents a pound; ripe
bananas are cooked and used instead
of potatoes yams grow to perfection
when cultivated, but are picked up
wild, or cultivated SO poorly that
they are very small.
WHAT is Nor CHARITY-It is
not charity to give penny to the
street mendicant, of whom nothing is
known, while we haggle with a.poor
man out of employment for misera-
bic dime. 1t is not charity to beat
down a seamstress to starvation
price; to let her sit in her wet clothes
sewing all day; to deduct from her
pitiful remuneration if the storm de-
lays her prompt arrival. 1t is not
charity to take poor relative into
your family, and make her slave to
all your whims, and taunt her con-
tinually with her dependent situa-
ton. 1t is not charity to turn man
who is out of work into the streets