CHAPTER XII

IN THE “ORIENTE.” NUEVA ESPARTA, SUCRE, PART OF MONÁGAS, AND THE DELTA TERRITORY 181

Restricted use of term “Oriente”—Margarita—Asunción—Porlamar and Pampatar—Macanao—A primitive population—The priests, the comet, and the people—Cubagua—Pearl fisheries—Coche—Cumaná—Las Casas—A diving feat—Petroleum and salt—Fruit—The Manzanares—Cumanacoa—In the hills—San Antonio and its church—The Guacharo cave—Humboldt—Virgin territory—Punceres—Oil-springs—The Bermudez asphalt lake—Carúpano—_Ron blanco_—Sulphur and gold—Rio Caribe—Peninsula of Paria—Cristobal Colón—An ambitious project—The Delta—The _Golfo Triste_—Pedernales—Asphalt and outlaws—In the _caños_—Tucupita—Barrancas—Imataca iron-mines—Canadian capital for Venezuela—Guayana Vieja.