When we reflect on the great political upheavals in the New World we note that Spanish Americans are in a less fortunate position than the inhabitants of the United States, who were more prepared for independence by constitutional liberty. Internal feuds are inevitable in regions where civilization has not taken root and where, thanks to the climate, forests soon cover all cleared land if agriculture is abandoned. I fear that for many years no foreign traveler will be able to cross those countries I visited. This circumstance may increase the interest of a work that portrays the state of the greater part of the Spanish colonies at the turn of the nineteenth century. I also venture to hope, once peace has been established, that this work may contribute to a new social order. If some of these pages are rescued from oblivion, those who live on the banks of the Orinoco or Atabapo may see cities enriched by commerce and fertile fields cultivated by free men on the very spot where during my travels I saw impenetrable jungle and flooded lands.