VELOCITY                                                 2008                                              VENEZUELA

mission was granted Velasquez to visit Italy, where he was received with the highest honor, Pope Urban VIII assigning him apartments in the Vatican. In the spring of 1631 he returned to Madrid, where he was cordially welcomed by his royal patron. He had a room assigned to him in the royal palace'and the king would often visit him and watch him at his work. Additional honors were conferred upon him by the king from time to time until his death, which took place on Aug. 7, 1660, his wife, who was passionately attached to him, surviving his loss only about a fortnight. With the po sible exception of Murillo, Velasquez takes the highest rank among Spanish painters.

Veloc'ity. See Dynamics.

Vel'vet, a fabric in which, besides the ordinary warp and weft, which are usually arranged as in twill-weaving, there is an additional weft, consisting of short pieces of silk, cotton or woolen thread doubled under the regular weft and brought to the surface in loops which are so close together as to conceal the regular web. The loops are afterwards cut evenly, and the ends thus made constitute a covering resembling a very short fur. In silk velvets the warp and pile threads are both of organzine silk, which is the strongest used in weaving.

Vena'tion, the arrangement of veins in leaves. The details of this arrangement are endless, but they may be reduced to two principal types. The two main types are known as closed and as open venation. In the former case, while the veins branch, they always run into one another, never having tree ends among the leaf-cells or in the leaf-margins. As a consequence, such leaves have even outlines, that is, they are not toothed or lobed. A very common form of the closed venation is that in which the main veins run parallel from base to apex, as in the grass-blade, and leaves of other monocotyledons. Such leaves are called parallel-veined. In other cases of closed venation, as in palms, bananas etc., the main veins are not parallel. The closed venation is characteristic of the monocotyledons. In open venation, characteristic of dicotyledons, the ultimate branches end freely, either among the leaf-cells or in the leaf-margins. Such leaves are said to be net-veined or reticulate, and they are much inclined to become toothed, lobed or compound. There are two forms of open venation : pinnate or feather-veined leaves, in which there is a main central vein or rib (midrib), from which the whole vein system, arises; and palmate leaves, in which three or more main ribs rise together at the base of the leaf, and diverge upward. In the ferns the venation is open, but the veins fork repeatedly, such a venation being called dichotomous.

Veneer', a layer of wood cut very thin for the purpose of being glued to the surface of a more common kind. Only choice kinds of hard wood are sawed into veneers, and they are usually attached to pine or some other kind of soft wood, so as to give all the apperaance of being made solid. In this way the more costly kinds of furniture-woods are economically used by the cabinetmaker ; for, with the improvements that have been made in the process of sawing, veneers as thin as paper can be produced.

Venezuela (vĕn'ĕ-zwã'lă), a republic of South America, lies between the Caribbean, the Atlantic, Guiana, Brazil and Colombia. Area 364,000 square miles, a third more than that of Texas, nearly two times that of France. Capital: Caracas (72,429). Population 2,619,218.

Surface and Drainage. Venezuela consists of mountainous lands in the north, 300,000 square miles of plains in the center and vast plateaus in the south. The most important ranges are the Merida, a continuation of the Colombian An les, and two ridges paralleling the Caribbean and called the Maritime Andes. Between these lies a fertile valley, the densely peopled part of Venezuela. The low plains are grassy, pasturing large herds, the high plains timbered. The tableland along Brazil and Guiana breaks into numerous ridges and peaks, the Parima and Pacaraima ranges. The drainage is an oceanic system, the Orinoco and its tributaries emptying into the Atlantic, the northern streams into the Caribbean. Over 1,000 rivers exist, almost 500 in the Orinocan system. Seventy rivers are navigable for nearly 6,000 miles, and are open to large steamers the year round. The Orinoco belongs wholly to Venezuela. Rising almost in Brazil, circling 1,450 miles, it is navigable below and above its rapids, and, with navigable affluents, affords 4,300 miles of navigation. The Orinoco and Meta form the shortest route from Europe to the Andes. The Casiquiari and Negro, both navigable, link the Orinoco and Amazon, The coast, 1,584 miles long, provides 32 good harbors. The lakes, numbering 200, are of increasing importance to transportation.

Climate and Rainfall. The mountainous districts and lofty valleys have a temperate climate, the coast and Orinoco valley a tropical one. The wet season experiences heavy rains; the dry season is mild and vivifying. Precipitation occurs most heavily on the coasts, mountains and western plains. At Caracas the mean fall annually is 30 inches.

Resources. These include, as indigenous products, cacao, cinchona, copal, drugs, herbs, rubber and a substitute called balata, sarsaparilla and tonka. Native to Venezuela are 150 building and cabinet woods