river, which is navigable for some distance above, and are easily worked at comparatively little expense.

Asphaltum of very superior quality, and in apparently inexhaustible quantities, is found near the Pedernales river, one of the estuaries of the Orinoco, and also in smaller deposits near Maracaybo, Merida, and Coro, in the western part of the Republic. That which has been recently discovered in the Orinoco delta, and on the little island of Pedernales near by, is a very superior quality. It differs from the asphaltum of Trinidad in that it is more liquid, and contains less earthy matter. The pitch is found in a series of little springs or fountains in conjunction with pure fresh water, and forms a flooring of several feet in depth. As taken from the mines, the pitch is a thick, jetty black, viscous mass, almost odorless, and very adherent. The process of preparing it for market is simple and inexpensive, the pitch merely requiring to be boiled so as to eliminate the higher volatiles and all contained moisture. The refining process may be carried to the extent of complete carbonization. The deposits at La Brea, in Trinidad, unlike those in the Orinoco delta, contain a large percentage of earthy matter which is difficult of separation from the pure pitch. These impurities add largely to the weight, and consequently to the cost of transportation; and whilst this extraneous matter, so difficult of elimination, is little detriment to the many uses of the material, it effectually debars it from others to which pure asphaltum is now applied in the various arts.

Perhaps the most extensive and valuable coal deposits yet discovered in the Republic are those near the old city of Barcelona, in the state, or province, of Bermudez. The area of these deposits is still but imperfectly explored, but enough is known to warrant the belief that they are both very extensive and very rich. There are

more than a hundred outcroppings of pure coal strata, most of them of apparently regular formation, varying from four inches to six and seven feet in thickness. These strata are generally located between thin layers of sandstone and schist, and run in general direction east and west, dipping to the southward. The veins often crop out several feet above the level of the navigable streams near which they are located, are easily mined from horizontal tunnels, and the coal loaded upon surface cars, thus avoiding the expense of pumping and lifting appliances. The quality of this coal is reasonably good; it ignites readily, and is well adapted for purposes of steam-power. In the mining and transportation, it loses about 25 per cent in dust; but this waste is easily recovered and utilized by the recently adopted process of manufacturing "block coal," or "patent fuel," as it is called, out of the dust refuse.

Rich mines of rock salt were discovered on the peninsula of Aroya as early as 1500. The mines have been worked at intervals ever since, and generally with great success. At present the government of Venezuela derives from them an annual income of nearly two million dollars. The deposit is almost pure salt, and is mined at comparatively small expense.

Near the little city of Merida, in the western part of the Republic, is a lake of singular conformation, the bottom of which is a thick crust of sesqui-carbonate of soda. In the vicinity of Coro, a little to the northward, as also at Cumaná and Barcelona, are extensive but as yet imperfectly developed mines of almost pure sulphur. Mines of jet, and also deposits of porcelain clay, have been discovered near Caracas and in the vicinity of Cumaná. The base and foot-hills of Mounts Silla and Naiguate, near the national capital, abound with white granite of very superior quality, but as yet very little utilized.

Thermal and mineral waters are found in nearly every province of the Republic. The celebrated geysers of Los Trincheras, on the line of the new railway between Puerto Cabello and Valencia, are especially noted for the high temperature of their waters, which is never below 200° Fah., and is sometimes as high as 206°. The celebrated Urijino Springs, in Japan, have a temperature of 212° Fah., but, with this single exception, I believe those of Los Trincheras, in Venezuela, are the hottest in the known world. Very little less remarkable are the celebrated springs near Coro, where upwards of thirty different streams have formed beds of white, dishshaped basins of a peculiar substance. The waters are of various odors and colors, contain many varieties of mineral substance, and maintain temperatures of from 41° to 151° Fah.

16

CHAPTER XXI

A WORD ABOUT THE MONROE DOCTRINE

O

UR relations with the South American states, and the frequent invocation by them, of what

is known as the "Monroe Doctrine," make it desirable to obtain, if possible, some clear and definite idea of its source and meaning; for, singularly enough, there has been some diversity of opinion, even in this country, as to both its origin and import.

The generally accepted opinion in this country is, that the Monroe Doctrine originated with President Monroe, and was first promulgated in his celebrated message to Congress in December, 1823. But this is at least doubtful; for substantially the same principles had been enunciated by John Quincy Adams nearly three years before. I allude, of course, to the declaration made by Mr. Adams to the British minister at Washington on the occasion of the suggestion by Russia that the United States should join the "Holy Alliance." And substantially the same declaration was made by Mr. Adams two years later, first in an instruction to Mr. Rush, our minister at London, and afterwards in the course of a personal conference with Baron Tüyl, the Russian minister at Washington.2

"1

But it is doubtful whether even Mr. Adams was the first to conceive and give expression to the principles

1 Whart. Dig. Int. Law, I., Ch. iii. sec. 57.

2 Adams' Mem. 163; Tucker's Monroe Doctrine, pp. 12-14.

now known as the Monroe Doctrine; for they had been clearly foreshadowed, if not distinctly outlined, twentythree years before by President Washington in his Farewell Address to the people of the United States. Nor can they be said to have been original even in that address, though they seem to have originated with its author. It is well known that, from the date of the first organization of the government under the federal Constitution of 1787, the new Republic had been beset by foreign agents who sought to commit it, first, to the quixotic schemes of the French democrats, and afterwards to the cause of France in her war with England. Even Thomas Jefferson covertly favored this project; and in this, as in other vagaries, he had many followers, not only in Virginia, but in other states of the Union. But Washington stood firm against all these importunities, and by his great personal prestige and influence committed the infant government to the policy of nonintervention in the broils of Europe, and to non-interference by Europe in the affairs of America.

I think it is fair to assume, therefore, that the American policy and principles of neutrality formulated in President Monroe's message of 1823, are coeval with the very existence of our government itself. They were the logical sequences of the declaration of 1776, and of the treaty of peace of 1783. They were incident to the character of our republican institutions, were evolved by the outgrowth of a national public sentiment, and rendered practicable by our isolated geographical position.

It had long been the conceded right of every European state to increase its dominions by pacific means; but this right was qualified by the acknowledged right of interference for the preservation of what was known as the "balance of power." That is to say, whenever