The Atlanta constitution., 1894-03-06
VENEZUELA
AND OUR
EXPOSITION.

For The Constitution, by Hon. W. Il.
Scruggs Exhibited States Minister ~
Venezuela.
Where is Venezuela? Is 1t north or sonth
of the equator? And how do you go there
from the United States?
These are sample questions when puioen
my daily mail. They are sometimes aSNeo
even by members OF congress. AS late 90
the wear 1892 the chairman OF the ho""0
committee on foreign affairs seriously le0-
o,nmended the consolidation OF our dlplo"
,nattc missions to Venezuela ana Nu't'c
mala notwithstanding the fact that CaiaCfIs aNII'
snd Guatemala City are practically laitlel
apart than Washington ana fdIlS' 1hiio.l-
member of the committee th9NSit Nh' -
sions to Ecuador and Nenezael4 ousnL "
be col solidated OF course ne ulu NJ
mat TO make the transit from Qul'o 10
f1oracas involved a iodrney of more thah
a month A business man in st LOUIS N'o''
writes 10 me to know whether ms iJ'' 80
ro, te to Puerto Cabelio, IN ehc~No'',' ~ -
not down the Pacific coast y lIW pas go
ego 1 received letter Iroh d o"i,o 80 -iril
In Colorado. who wanted to go TO el'eNu !,
oIa ..for the purpose of making money,
snouiring whether the most aYaliaple Ioute
10 the mouth of the Orinoco was not NiA
Europe. .,.4oo,,s1,,
I have been in the habit of courteously
raDlVjpH to All SuCn Nt4CSti'l''''
member once having offended d too1Vooilat
of DanyilIe. Va. who wanted 10 eALenu
his trade TO South America. by teilin6 nm
never to carry coal to NeWcdSlle' ""' ~
study his geography. ...,n
r,ere reference to any good map VIII
shaw that Venezuela is at the very TN
bol,, OF orr south Atlantic and Euf portS'
that it is less than 1.400 miles from Ne"
Work. and less than half that distance from
Savannah and Brunswick. and that the ~
tie republic is the most noftheFh OF On '1L1
South American states. BY the oouth
American states' I mean all those on poth
sides Of the equator south of the isthhlu7 Oh
Panama for although portions of che]ueld
are several degrees farther horth lldia
Panama they are none the less pdFt9 ..
the mainland of the hemisphere south oil
the IsthmuS.
Venezuela. then. is bounded on the West
hy Colombia. or the east 10y 6rltSh quay
ana. on The south and southeast by Coioln-
bia and Brazil and on the north by the
Caribbean sea and Atlantic ocean Inc
s-eoeraDhIcal position Of the republic is be
tween the first and thirteenth p&ralIeiS OF
north latitude, and the third and e!Shteehth
meridian OF lo@itude east from Washington
city The average length Of the country,
from east to west, is nearly nine hundred
miles and its average BREADTH from hofth
20 sotth is about seven hundred mllea-tnu5
giving an area Of about sixty thousand
square miles, exclusive OF It's numerous
islands on the coast. 1t thus comprises
territory larger than that of either France
or Germany. and quite as large as Italy
and France combined
The Typographical corfOrmatonof thus area
is such to 10 afford every variety OF climate
within the compass ot a few mles' an" II
we could Ia Ike bird s-eye view Of II from
q balloon. we snould see a varied landscape
of matchless beauty and grandeur we
should see a succession of high mountains,
deep Valiies, rolling steppes ana elevated
pIatoaus-ail interspersed by great rivers,
rapidly running rivulets. brooks and fresh
water lakes. We should see every variety
of fora and faupa--oVery species and va
riety OF tree. shrub. flower ana fern, and
every species and variety OF beast ana
bird indigenous to the tropics We should
see great coffee estates rising one above
another on the mountain slopes; sugar and
tobacco and cocoa plantations nestled costly
in torried valleys beneath the shadows OF
sn0W-cdppet mountains; luNurlaHt groves
of the royal palm and the golden mango,
and primitive forests OF celba, mahogany
and sarrapia, with dense underground Of
orchids ana medicinal plants. We should
see great plains covered with grazing herds
attended by horsemen in fantastic garb and
quite 100 frequently we should see these
rich savannahs tray ersaG by hostile armies
and the whole country turned into a sort
q pandenonium, resulting from the efforts
of two OF more politicians 10 occupy the
same office at the same ij time.
Many Of the rivers Of the country are
navigable all che year round. About two
TWO hundred OF tnem HOW into the Caribbean
sea. More than hundred more flow into
the great gulf of Paria, which Columbus
once mistooI for the China sea. Nearly
as many C5ut OF smaller VoiIme) flow into
Lake Mdracaybo, and one fresh water
lake of Valencia, 1,5JJ feet above the sea
leyel. receives the waters of about Il dozen
q