Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms, Volume 61

The Atlantic Ocean: Various Departments of the Southern Continent South America

The country is exceptionally rich in resources, also producing copper, minerals, salt, peppermint, coffee original: 加非 (jiāfēi), and cinchona bark original: 肯黛皮 (kěndàipí); a medicinal bark used to produce quinine for treating malaria. Its port on the Antilles Sea original: 安特海 (Āntè Hǎi); the Caribbean Sea is a renowned trading hub.

Furthermore, the city of Cartagena original: 加他議那 (Jiātāyìnà) has a population of ten thousand. Located near the narrow isthmus of Panama original: 巴那馬 (Bānàmǎ), its commerce is flourishing, with two thousand ships visiting annually. The national treasury collects 3.07 million dollars original: 圓 (yuán); referring to the silver pesos or "Spanish dollars" used in international trade in silver, while the public debt stands at thirty-three million dollars. Its capital is called Bogotá original: 巴幾他 (Bājǐtā), which has a population of thirty thousand.

To its northeast lies the nation of Venezuela original: 威尼穌拉 (Wēinísūlā). Its territory spans 18,960 li a traditional Chinese unit of distance; here used to denote the vastness of the region and it has a population of 696,000. The land is divided into four departments and ten provinces. Depending on the elevation of the terrain, the inhabitants plant wheat, process coffee, and produce white sugar and other commodities.

One major port is Caracas original: 加拉甲 (Jiālājiǎ), situated on the coast of the Antilles Sea. Each year, one hundred ships enter and depart, exporting goods such as coffee, cacao original: 葛欝 (géyù), tobacco, and indigo original: 黛青 (dàiqīng); a blue dye, totaling a value of 1.4 million taels a weight of silver. It imports textiles and manufactured goods valued at approximately 1.75 million dollars. Other ports in the region have not yet grown to such a large scale.