CHAPTER I.

[Illustration: Map of Venezuela.]

TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES

IN

SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA.

FIRST SERIES:

Life in the Llanos of Venezuela.

BY

DON RAMON PAEZ.

“NIHIL ARDUUM MORTALIBUS.”

NEW YORK:

CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO., 654 BROADWAY.

1868.

“Oh! it is the land where brightest hues

Gild sunset skies and glow in morning dews

Where flowers the fairest ever seem to bloom,

Of the world’s empire, to adorn the tomb.

Where blandest breezes on elastic wing,

Gladness and vigor to the bosom bring;

Where hang at once, within thy sunny bowers,

On citron trees, the fruitage and the flowers;

Where hearts are ardent as the sun’s they feel,

And buoyant as the gales that o’er them steal;

Where maiden’s love as close, as sweet will twine,

As cling the tendrils of their native vine;

Where the deep lustre of soft beauty’s eye

Transcends the brightness of its own clear sky.”

GODFREY’S “_Cordelia_.”

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by

RAMON PAEZ.

In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the

Southern District of New York.

TO

MORRIS KETCHUM, ESQ.,

THE

KIND AND CONSTANT FRIEND

TO THE

EXILED AUTHOR.

PREFACE.

It was my lot several years ago--I need not state how many--to be

brought forth into this world amid the wild scenes which I propose to

describe. Later in life I was fortunate enough to be sent by my parents

to England, for the purpose of finishing my education under the tuition

of the learned fathers at the College of Stonyhurst. While there, I had

the pleasure of making the acquaintance of the inimitable author of

“Wanderings in South America,” Charles Waterton, Esq., who years before

had also been an inmate of that celebrated institution, and whose book

became at once my favorite study, on account of the graphic descriptions

it contains of animals and objects with which I was already familiar.

The works of the distinguished traveller, Baron von Humboldt, who first

made those regions known to the civilized world, next afforded me an

endless source of scientific enjoyment, developing in me an early taste

for the natural history and physical wonders of my native land.

On my return home, I immediately turned my steps toward

“Those matted woods ...

Where crouching tigers wait their hapless prey,”

anxious to study nature in her own sanctuary; but, owing to the

unfortunate state of affairs in the country, I did not enjoy long my

cherished dreams of exploring it through all its extent. Sufficient

information was, however, obtained in my rambles through the plains, to

enlarge upon a subject scarcely touched upon by travellers.

Thus from my earliest days have I been associated with the scenes

forming the text of the present narrative, which I venture to lay before

the public, trusting more in the indulgence and characteristic

generosity of the Anglo-Saxon race toward foreigners, than in my own

ability to fulfil the arduous undertaking.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE

INTRODUCTION, xi

I. THE DEPARTURE, 1

II. THE MORROS, 16

III. THE LLANOS, 26

IV. THE LLANEROS, 40

V. SCENES AT THE FISHERY, 57

VI. WILD HORSES, 74

VII. ACROSS THE PAMPAS, 85

VIII. LA PORTUGUESA, 99

IX. THE APURE RIVER, 116

X. SAVANNAS OF APURE, 133

XI. EL FRIO, 148

XII. BIRDS OF ILL OMEN AND CARRION HAWKS, 163

XIII. THE RODEO, 175

XIV. BRANDING SCENES, 189

XV. PLANTS AND SNAKES, 202

XVI. TIGER STORIES, 222

XVII. SHOOTING ADVENTURES, 238

XVIII. MATA TOTUMO, 250

XIX. MONKEY NOTIONS, 262

XX. AMONG THE CROCODILES, 281

XXI. THE CIMARRONERA, 294

XXII. LOS BORALES, 315

XXIII. OUR LEADER, 329

XXIV. SCENES AT THE PASS OF APURITO, 362

XXV. THE WONDERS OF THE RIVER, 378

XXVI. THE LAND OF EL DORADO, 391

XXVII. THE OIL WELLS OF THE ORINOCO, 430

XXVIII. HOMEWARD BOUND, 448

XXIX. CALABOZO, 460

NOTE.

The favorable--I may say flattering--notice which the previous editions

of the _Wild Scenes in South America_ received from the press of this

country, and more especially from that of Great Britain, has encouraged

the Author of that work to make several material changes, not only in

the text--whole chapters having been stricken out and their place

supplied by new matter--but in the general plan of the book, with the

object of presenting it to the young American reader--to whom this

edition is especially devoted--in a form which will convey a more

comprehensive view of the wonders of a region scarcely known here,

except to the scientific through the works of Baron von Humboldt and

other European travellers who have visited it from time to time in the

pursuit of knowledge, or for pleasure. It is to be hoped, however, that

with the increased facilities offered by the various lines of steamships

now plying regularly between this country and various points in South

America, a more lively interest than hitherto has been evinced here,

will be aroused among the citizens of the Great Republic towards

countries which, by their geographical position and other natural

advantages, are destined to become the emporiums of a vast trade with

the United States of North America.

INTRODUCTION.

“Know’st thou the land where the citron grows,

Where midst its dark foliage the golden orange glows?

Thither, thither let us go.”

GOETHE.

TO YOUNG AMERICA:

“Smart,” as the world over, you are acknowledged to be--in which opinion

I most heartily concur, having myself spent among you the best part of

my life--permit me to call your attention to one important fact which

has escaped your notice thus far, or rather that of your teachers,

namely, a better acquaintance with that vast and glorious portion of our

great continent lying at your very portals, South America--a region of

which you have only a faint idea from the meagre information supplied by

your School Geographies and occasional newspaper correspondents, but in

fact a land of wondrous exuberance and untold natural wealth, which

offers you a field of enterprise worthy of the founders of the States of

California and Oregon, and the Territories of Montana, Arizona, and

Colorado.

It is a fact that while Europe, situated as it is far beyond our own

hemisphere, has always sent her _very best_ men to represent her in the

South American States, and to explore and report upon every thing worth

knowing, this country, America _par excellence_, has sent _none_ as yet

but broken down and quarrelsome politicians, who, according to the

statements of some of the leading periodicals of this country,[1] are

absolutely incompetent to fill their post with credit to the nation they

represent. To my own personal knowledge I can testify as to the class of

men sent afloat to Venezuela, one of whom had previously been master of

a tug-boat on the Orinoco and Apure rivers, but through political

influence at home was suddenly enabled to emerge from that obscure

though honorable calling to that of a diplomatic functionary, although

it is but fair to state that his social status in that country was in no

wise improved by his change of vocation. When his term of office

expired, with the change of administration at headquarters, he was duly

replaced by another, whose conduct was so disgraceful[2] that his

countrymen resident in the Republic petitioned the Government at home to

remove him forthwith, which was granted, but only to replace him by

another--since deceased--who, I am informed, was the only drunken man

seen in the streets of the capital.

Thanks to the unaided efforts of a missionary gentleman, Rev. Mr.

Fletcher,[3] the magnificent empire of Brazil has lately been brought to

the notice of the people of the United States, who, quick to appreciate

the commercial advantages offered by a foreign country, when fully

demonstrated to them, have already established a line of steamers

between New York and the principal ports of the Empire. Outside of this

the people of this enterprising country have only had occasional

glimpses of the vast continent of South America, from the notes of

casual travellers and the official reports of Lieuts. Page, Herndon, and

Gibbon, of the navy, who confined their observations principally to the

practicability of navigating the two great rivers Amazon and La Plata,

already surveyed by their respective governments and explored from end

to end by several European travellers. It is to be hoped, however, that

the eminent naturalist, Agassiz, who lately visited the former river

with reference to a particular branch of science, will give us the

result of his explorations as clearly, and relieved of the

technicalities of scientific lore so common among naturalists, as the

distinguished artist Church, who several years ago penetrated, “on his

own hook,” to the _heart of the Andes_, has presented the grand and

beautiful ridge on canvass to the eyes of admiring thousands who have

gazed upon his admirable paintings, thus familiarising the outside world

with that picturesque region, and earning for himself a name second to

none in the estimation of the artistic world.

North Americans cannot longer _ignore_ that great section of our

continent which, during thirteen years, _warred to the knife_ against

her powerful antagonists, Spain and Portugal, for the possession of

those political principles proclaimed years before by their own Great

Republic; for it is a fact, that while most of the European nations

hastened to acknowledge the independence of the South American States,

the United States of America were the last to recognize them; and if we

of the South have not been as successful in the establishment of

Republican Institutions as our brethren of the North, the fault is not

ours, but is to be attributed to the “peculiar institutions” implanted

on our soil by its fanatical and remorseless conquerors, so utterly

inimical to enlightened educational development.[4]

And now look, on the other hand, to the host of distinguished names that

figure among the European representatives and explorers in the various

sections of South America, and the advantages gained by the countries

they represent. At the head of all stands the illustrious Humboldt, who

was the first to penetrate that comparatively unknown region at the time

(1799), and to lay open her wondrous treasures before the civilized

world. Any eulogistic comments upon this truly great man are

superfluous: the world is filled with his fame, as radiant as the

celestial spheres above, which he overran likewise with his penetrating

mind, and after devoting nearly three quarters of a century to the study

of the Universe, he died only a few years ago at the advanced age of

ninety-two, in the full enjoyment of his mental faculties. His works are

the grandest monument of the nineteenth century.

To Prussia we are indebted for the services of another resolute

explorer, Prince Adalbert, who fearlessly penetrated to the remotest

parts of Brazil, and the botanists, von Tschudi, Karzten, and Moritz,

who have enriched the European museums and conservatories with the

treasures of our Flora. Other parts of Germany have sent no less

distinguished individuals in the persons of Prince Maximilian of

Bavaria, and the great naturalists, Narterer, Spix, and von Martius, all

of whom have given to the scientific world the result of their

explorations in works of enduring fame. France ranks next in

distinguished names, such as La Condamine, D’Orvigni, Jussieu, St.

Hilaire, Bonpland (the companion of Humboldt), Depons, Lavayesse,

Webber, Liais, etc.; and Great Britain, with her Parishes and Fitzroys,

who surveyed and carefully sounded every estuary, bay, and inlet which

lie between the Plata and the Bay of Valparaiso, with the celebrated

naturalist, Darwin, as co-laborer; Sir Robert Schumbourgh, the

discoverer of that vegetable wonder, the Victoria Regia, and the

hitherto unknown sources of the great river Orinoco, the lake of Parime,

supposed in the seventeenth century to be the abode of a mighty and

resplendent Indian king--El Dorado--the gilded, from whom that veritable

land of gold, as it has subsequently been demonstrated, took the

name[5]--with other equally enterprising naturalists and explorers, such

as Waterton, Wallace, Bates, Vigne, Markham, and Spruce. Through the

efforts of the two last named, England has succeeded in transplanting

and successfully cultivating in the mountains of India the various

species of cinchona trees indigenous to the Andean range of mountains,

that yield that invaluable drug, quinine; while another enterprising

Englishman undertook to stock Australia with the Alpaca sheep of the

same region, at the risk of his life and fortune.

Thus England, France, and Germany have secured the monopoly of the South

American trade, with total exclusion of this country, which has to pay

_cash_ for what the former obtain in exchange for the produce of their

manufactories. All these nations, moreover, appoint permanent

representatives, chosen from among their ablest diplomats, and keep them

there as long as they choose to remain, to enable them to become

thoroughly acquainted with the people and the peculiarities of the

country, endearing themselves to the inhabitants by their munificent

hospitality and courtly demeanor. Even distant and snow-bound Russia has

sent to South America her commissions of _savants_ and maintains there,

as well as Sweden, competent representatives, whose duty it is to report

to their respective governments on the progress of affairs and the

resources of those countries.

I shall not close the list of European travellers and naturalists, with

whom I am acquainted, without adding those of Holland and Belgium, viz.,

Mr. Langsberg, for many years Minister Plenipotentiary from the former

country to Venezuela, Baron Ponthos, and Messrs. Linden and Funk, who,

by their united efforts, have contributed to enlighten their countrymen

respecting the source from whence India-rubber emanates, and the kind of

trees that yield the valuable Calisaya and Angostura barks; what plants

yield the fragrant Vanilla and Tonka beans, the healing balsams of

Copaiva, Tolu, and Peru; and how indigo, cacao, and coffee are raised.

“Does cotton grow in Venezuela?” “Are there any railroads in Chile?” are

questions which have respectively been addressed to me and to the

accredited Minister of the latter flourishing republic to the United

States by persons enjoying the greatest advantages of education in this

country. Now, it is a well-known fact to European merchants that the

cotton raised in Venezuela ranks among the finest in the world; and as

regards railroads, Chile possesses some of the most admirable works of

the kind, due to the skill of North American engineers.

But no wonder that so little is known here about South America, when one

of the standard School Geographies and most recent publications

describes the products of Venezuela in these few lines:

“Its principal products are the _woods_ and _fruits_ of the forest and

the _cattle_ of the plains.”

“Exports.--The principal exports are the _tropical fruits_, which grow

without cultivation; and hides, cattle, horses, and mules.”

Any one would be led to suppose, from the perusal of the above

quotations, that the country at large is “in a state of nature,” and

that the inhabitants themselves are no better off than “the cattle of

the plains,”

“Where at each step the stranger fears to wake

The rattling terrors of the vengeful snake;

Where crouching tigers wait their hapless prey,

And savage men more murderous still than they.”

--_The Deserted Village._

These things are only found in the depths of the primeval forest, or

amidst the labyrinths of rivers that traverse the vast extent of prairie

land or _llanos_ which form the subject of this book. These are the

grazing grounds as well as military school of the republic: the

agricultural portion lies north of this region, amidst the great chain

of mountains, which, detaching itself from the main Andean trunk in New

Granada, or Colombia, as it is now called, runs eastward along the

shores of the Caribbean Sea. The products of this region consist

principally, as the school-book quoted above states, in the tropical

fruits, not collected at random, as might be inferred from the above

meager statement, but through the most careful cultivation, as a

contemporary English traveller in that country rightly describes it in a

few lines.

“July 11th.--Having got our passports, we started at about 3 P.M. for

San Pedro, distant about six leagues. The first three leagues lay

through the beautiful valley of Chacao (Caracas). Everything bore the

appearance of great prosperity. The road was as good as any in Europe.

The hedges were beautifully clipped; hardly a foot of ground could be

seen that was not in a high state of cultivation. The plantations were

numerous and in good order, and the long chimneys and black smoke showed

that even in this remote valley steam was rendering its thousand-handed

assistance. We crossed and recrossed the Rio Guaire several times before

we arrived at Antimano, some two leagues distant from Caracas. We met

several herds of wild cattle, being driven towards Caracas by the

llaneros in crimson or blue ponchos, mounted on high-picked saddles,

with their constant companion, the lasso, plaited into their horses’

tails, and the long cattle-spears in their hands. The cattle were

magnificent-looking animals, and reminded me of the breed that one sees

in the bull-rings of old Spain. Coffee is more cultivated in the valley

of Chacao than any other crop, and it contributes in no small degree to

the beauty of the scenery.”[6]

Besides coffee this country produces the famous _Cacao_ and indigo of

Caracas, sugar-cane, and cotton of superior quality, tobacco hardly

inferior to that of Cuba, especially the celebrated Varinas and Guacharo

kinds, rice, Indian-corn, and most of the cereals of northern latitudes,

according to the elevation above the sea level; and as to the products

gathered “in a state of nature,” such as sarsaparilla, India-rubber,

Piassaba, Vanilla, and Tonka beans, cabinet and dye-woods, their name is

legion, and would require a separate volume devoted to that particular

branch of scientific research, which the reader can find admirably

compiled in the works of Humboldt and Bonpland, St. Hilaire, Sir Robert

Schombourgh, Codazzi, and others.

Now it is my purpose to introduce the young American reader to a

country--

“Where maidens’ love as close, as sweet will twine,

As cling the tendrils of their native vine,”

and which hitherto seems to have been a sealed book to the future

“Merchant Princes” of the great North. Humboldt describes it thus, in

1802:--

VENEZUELA.

“CARACAS is the capital of a country nearly twice as large as Peru, and

now little inferior in extent to the kingdom of New Granada. This

country, which the Spanish government designates by the name of

Capitania-General de Caracas, or the United Provinces of Venezuela, has

nearly a million of inhabitants, among whom are sixty thousand slaves.

It comprises, along the coasts, New Andalusia, or the province of Cumana

(with the island of Margarita), Barcelona, Venezuela, or Caracas, Coro,

and Maracaibo: in the interior the Provinces of Barinas and Guiana; the

former situated on the rivers of Santo Domingo and the Apure, the latter

stretching along the Orinoco, the Casiquiare, the Atabapo, and the Rio

Negro. In a general view of the seven United Provinces of Tierra Firme,

we perceive that they form three distinct zones, extending from East to

West.

“We find, first, cultivated land along the sea-shore, and near the chain

of the mountains on the coast; next, savannas or pasturages; and

finally, beyond the Orinoco, a third zone, that of the forests, into

which we can penetrate only by the rivers which traverse them. If the

native inhabitants of the forest lived entirely on the produce of the

chase, like those of the Missouri, we might say that the three zones,

into which we have divided the territory of Venezuela, picture the three

states of human society; the life of the wild hunter, in the woods of

the Orinoco; pastoral life in the savannas or llanos, and the

agricultural state, in the high valleys, and at the foot of the

mountains on the coast.”[7]

And yet this favored region can be reached in from twelve to fifteen

days by sailing packets between Philadelphia and La Guaira; or, should

your _fast_ habits require it, we can avail ourselves of the Brazilian

line of steamships which will leave us at St. Thomas, where we shall

meet the little steamer plying regularly between both points, the whole

voyage being thus accomplished in eight days. As we are not in a hurry,

however, to get through our journey, we will, for the sake of

convenience and diversified amusement, follow the example of the

above-mentioned traveller, Sullivan, who, in company of a friend, made

the trip before us in a commodious yacht by the way of the West India

Islands; but having no craft of our own, we may be permitted to borrow

from the New York yacht squadron one of their idle cutters, which can

thus be better employed than in cruising round well-known fashionable

retreats during a few months of summer, and exposed for the rest of the

year to the hard knocks of a wintry climate. This is the best season to

visit the tropics, as well as the West Indies, when there is no fear of

the dreaded _vomito_ or sweeping hurricanes.

Hardly a day passes without coming in sight of some lovely isle of the

Caribbean sea, which, like the “Queen of the Antilles,”--Cuba--rises

from amidst the placid waves, crowned with perpetual wreaths of fragrant

orange-blossoms and stately palms. Cuba, Hayti, Porto Rico, St. Thomas,

Sta. Cruz, Antigua, Granada, Barbadoes, Martinique, Guadaloupe, Tobago,

and Trinidad, rise one after another in quick succession. When we reach

the last named and most lovely of all, on the eastern extremity of

Venezuela, we have the choice of either penetrating at once into the

field of our adventures by entering one of the numerous outlets of the

Orinoco, which here pours out its tribute to the mighty Atlantic through

a hundred mouths; or, following the line of coast to the westward, we

may reach a point near the fertile valleys of Aragua, where well-trained

horses for the sport and hardy llaneros to guide us, await our arrival.

We shall thus have an opportunity of contemplating and admiring that

stupendous chain of mountains (fit offspring of the mighty Andes further

west), which seems as if thrown up by Titanic force as a barrier against

the encroachments of the fierce Atlantic.

Endless are the beauties and points of interest presented by this

splendid chain of mountains; its varied climes, from the scorching heats

of the _tierra caliente_ on the sea level to the frigid blasts of winter

at higher elevations; its silvery springs and roaring cataracts; its

unrivalled vegetation and glittering veins of precious metals. The trade

winds and currents are in our favor, which will enable us to reach La

Guaira in a couple of days, passing in quick succession some minor

ports, such as Rio Caribe, Carupano, with its silver-bearing mountains

in the distance, the island of Margarita, famous for its pearls, as the

name implies; its fisheries, and the gallant defence made by the

inhabitants against the combined attacks of the Spanish hordes; Cumana,

for its delicious grapes and pine-apples, its salubrious climate, and

the purity of the sky, which enabled the immortal Humboldt to watch in

wonderment the great meteoric shower in 1799, which he compared to a

brilliant display of fire-works; Barcelona, noted only for its hides,

and the Monagas brotherhood, who were for many years the terror of the

country.

The coast, as we approach La Guaira, is lined with plantations of

sugar-cane, cacao and cocoa-nuts, two articles often confounded in

English spelling, but widely different in themselves. The former grows

on a moderately-sized tree, with large, glossy leaves, while the latter

is the product of a palm, remarkable for the height it attains, and the

prodigious size of its fruit, in bunches that few men can lift from the

ground. The _cacao_ nuts, on the contrary, grow in pods, resembling

large cucumbers, of a rich chocolate color outside, filled with oblong

nuts enveloped in a white, sub-acid pulp, very agreeable to the taste

especially of parrots, monkeys, and squirrels, who destroy great

quantities of the pods for the sake of the pulp, so that they require

constant watching to protect them from these pests.

A cacao plantation is one of the handsomest orchards that can be seen,

shaded as they are by another tree of large proportions, the erythrina,

a leguminous plant with crimson flowers, which you may have noticed in

greenhouses at home, though much reduced in size, as it never attains

there more than a few feet above the boxes on which they are raised as

an ornament to the garden in summer. The rapidity with which these trees

grow in the tropics is astonishing, for in eight or ten years, the time

required to reach its maximum growth, they attain the size of the

largest denizens of the forest. Observe how their tops glow with the

fiery hue of their blossoms, for this is the season when they exchange

their leaves for flowers, the only instance of a plant shedding its

leaves in these latitudes, with the exception of the _ceiba_ or silk

cotton tree, which the author of Amyas Leigh has so admirably described

as growing close to where we are journeying just now.

Here the cordillera rises considerably above the connecting mountains,

attaining a height of thirteen thousand feet in the peak of Naiguata,

which you may perceive peeping through the clouds yonder, and the next

one eleven thousand in the Cerro de Avila, both forming what is called

the Silla, or Saddle of Caracas, at the foot of which stands La Guaira,

the principal port of the republic, but the vilest anchorage in the

world. Here ends our yacht excursion; trusting in future to the

nimble-footed mule or to the thumping stage coaches for the rest of the

journey.

Despite its wretched shipping facilities, La Guaira carries on a very

active trade with foreign marts, as is attested by the number of

English, French, German, and Italian merchants, with a few Americans,

residing here, forming, as it were a truly foreign colony. The heat, as

you perceive, is intense, owing to the proximity of the barren

mountain-base, which leaves room scarcely for a loaded mule to turn

round in the narrow and crowded-up streets. On this account, I presume,

La Guaira is very healthy, for not even the Asiatic cholera could obtain

a _footing_ here--excuse the pun--when it decimated the capital in

1853. Cases of _vomito_ occur from time to time; but these are more the

exception than the rule; so it does not follow that all hot places in

the tropics are unhealthy, for Carupano, Margarita, Cumana, La Guaira,

and Coro, which are within the isothermal line of greatest heat--owing,

doubtless, to the dry, stony, or sandy soil on which they stand--are

among the healthiest spots in Venezuela. However, we shall soon be out

of this sultry place, and amidst the glories of a temperate climate. For

this purpose we will hire mules at one of the _posadas_ or hotels, to

ascend the mountains on our way to Caracas, the capital of the republic,

giving the preference to the _old road_, which is much shorter and more

picturesque than the new one for carriage travel. Let us hear first the

enthusiastic English tourist describe this route, as I may be accused by

some of partiality towards my own country.

“The ascent is very precipitous, and the road rough and narrow, but the

view of the boundless ocean on one hand, and the magnificent range of

mountains on the other, was very grand. The road rather reminded me of

the Great St. Bernard, though the resemblance would not bear analyzing.

The sensation of rising gradually into the cooler strata of air was most

delicious; and at length, being suddenly enveloped in a cloud, I felt

actually cold (a novel sensation I had not experienced for several

months), and was not at all sorry to put on my jacket. There is no

mountain in the tropics where you rise as immediately and suddenly from

the stifling heat of the Tierra Caliente to the delicious temperature of

an European sunrise in spring, as the Silla of Caracas.

“On the road from Vera Cruz to Mexico, when the traveller arrives at the

height of four thousand feet, beyond which the fever never spreads, he

is upwards of thirty miles from the sea, whereas, on the road up the

Silla at that height the ocean lies immediately at his feet, and he

looks down upon it as from a tower. So perpendicular is the face of the

Silla towards the sea, that any large _boulder_ or mass of rock becoming

detached high up the mountain and bounding down its face, would fall

clean into the ocean. About half way up the mountain, we crossed a deep

cleft in the mountain called the Salto--a jump--on rather a rickety old

draw-bridge. The bridge is commanded by a ruinous old town, called Torre

Quemada, or the Burnt Tower, a name it derives from its being placed

just at the height where the traveller, descending to La Guaira, first

encounters the stifling exhalations from the Tierra Caliente. About nine

o’clock we stopped to breakfast at La Venta, an inn some five thousand

feet above La Guaira. Here, in a perfectly European atmosphere, we lay

out in the grass, and gazed down upon the ocean and the town of La

Guaira; we could just distinguish the _Ariel_, looking the size of a

walnut-shell, hoisting her white sail, and standing away for Porto

Cabello, where we were to meet her, unless we returned to Trinidad _via_

the Rio Apure and the Orinoco.”

Both sides of the road are lined with _Maguey_ plants, or varieties of

the Agave genus, improperly called _aloes_ and _century-plants_, from a

mistaken notion that they only blossom once in a hundred years. The most

beautiful of these is the _cocuy_, with thick glossy leaves of a clear

emerald color, from six to eight feet, and a flower-stock from

twenty-five to thirty feet in length. I believe it is the same species

that yields the famous beverage of the Mexicans, called pulque, which

some compare to fermented animal juices. A much more agreeable drink is

obtained here by distillation from this plant, and its leaves turned to

better account by scraping out the fine fibres they contain, from which

most beautiful hammocks are made in various parts of the country,

besides ropes, coffee-bags, twine, etc., etc. A fortune is in store for

some Yankee genius who will invent the proper machine for dressing these

leaves and getting the fibres. The other varieties are the _cocuiza

brava_, or common century-plant (Agave Americana), with serrated leaves,

on which account it is very useful for making hedges, and the _cocuiza

dulce_, with perfectly smooth leaves, containing the strongest fibres

and usually cultivated for that purpose. The pith of the flower-stock is

also turned to account in various ways, especially for making the best

kind of razor-strops.

Were you as much a lover of plants as I am, I would invite you to

descend with me to one of those lovely glens formed by these mountains.

There, amid moss-covered rocks and sparkling rivulets, I would point out

to you those singular orchidacœous plants usually called air-plants,

because they obtain their nourishment from the moist air that surrounds

them,--not a bad idea,--those lovely daughters of Flora and Favonius, so

rich in perfume as well as color, but whose principal charm consists in

their caricaturing most living objects in nature, from the “human form

divine,” as in _man-orchis_ (O. mascula) to the bumble-bee, often

deceived by a perfect representation of his species (Ophris apifera).

Thus we count among our floral treasures “angels,” “swans,” “doves,”

“eagles,” “pelicans,” “spiders,” “butterflies,” “bumble-bees,” and even

a perfect infant in its cradle, was found by Linden in the mountains of

Merida. The celebrated _Flor del Espiritu Santo_ (Peristeria elata) is

another of this class. It is there only that are found those two most

beautiful species of cattleya (C. Mossiæ and C. Labiata), so highly

prized by plant collectors, from all nations, and here called _Flor de

Mayo_, or Mayflower, because it blossoms principally in the month of

May. Great favorites are they with us also, and no court-yard is deemed

sufficiently ornamented at Caracas without one or more _baskets_ of

these lovely plants, the stump of a tree, or any rustic basket filled

with bark or moss, being sufficient support for them. In the same manner

the curious Butterfly-flower (Oncidium papillio) is raised along with

the others, often deceiving persons unacquainted with it, with a perfect

representation of the insect whose name it bears; and if you should

visit with me some of the _cacao_ plantations in the tierra caliente, I

would point out to you two equally exquisite plants of the same family

attached to the rough stems and branches of the Erythrina, namely, the

Swan-flower (Cycnoches ventricosum) and the Vanilla, both filling the

air with the same perfume, but in different form, the former through its

swan-like flowers, in clusters of three, five, and even seven, and the

latter through its ripened pods--so well known to perfumers and

confectioners--as the blossoms of this last, though quite large and

handsome, are destitute of perfume.

But to return to our mountain ride, for it is time that we should be

prepared to behold a still more glorious view from the summit, than the

one just described by Sullivan: “After a regular Spanish breakfast of

chocolate and fried eggs, for which, in as regular Spanish custom, we

were charged about ten times the proper amount, we continued our ascent,

and gained the seat of the Saddle, a hollow between the two peaks,

called the Pummel and Croup,[8] about ten o’clock. The summit of the

pass called Las Vueltas, is a smooth undulating grass-land, somewhat

like the sheep-downs of Sussex. The bold rocky peaks on either hand,

stretching in a serrated ridge as far as the eye could reach, were very

fine. I could scarcely fancy myself to be only ten degrees north of the

equator, and actually on or rather only eight thousand feet above the

isothermal line of greatest heat, which passes through Cartagena, La

Guaira, and Cumana.

“We had left far below us all the tropical flora, and were amongst

English ferns and English blackberries; and I actually discovered one

familiar friend, a dandelion. From the summit of Las Vueltas, you first

get a magnificent view of the valley of Chacao, lying some four thousand

feet below you, with the city of Caracas in the centre of it. I don’t

think the view from that height is so fine as some thousand feet lower

down, where it certainly beats any view I have ever seen. It is finer in

my opinion than the first _coup d’œil_ of the Vega and city of

Granada from the Ultimo Suspiro del Moro, where the degenerate Boabdil

el Chico, both in mind and body, turned to take one last fond look at

the luxurious abode of his chivalric ancestors and wept bitterly, though

too late, at his own cowardice and duplicity, which had almost without a

blow surrendered to the “curs of Nazareth” the splendid heritage of

nearly seven centuries, and which was never but in imagination to return

to the true sons of the Prophet. It is also finer than the Valley of

Chamouni or Martigny, from the Tête Noire, but I think it bears more

resemblance to the Vega of Granada.”

Observe how regularly laid out, at right angles to each other, the

streets are; the area of the city is great for the number of inhabitants

(sixty thousand), most of the houses being built one story high, and

occupying in consequence a large space, on account of the earthquakes,

which are of frequent occurrence all along the Andean range. As we

approach the suburbs, you may notice some of the ruins still remaining

of that dreadful catastrophe, which, in 1812, levelled this beautiful

city to the ground, burying beneath the _débris_ twelve thousand of the

inhabitants, just as they had assembled in the magnificent churches of

that time to render homage to the day, Holy Thursday. Since then the

city has been rebuilt, it is to be hoped on more solid basis.

Caracas claims the honor of having given birth to several distinguished

individuals, among others to Bolívar and Miranda, two of the greatest

champions of South American independence; to Rosio, the Jefferson of

Venezuela;

[Illustration: CARACAS.]

to Andres Bello, a great poet and publicist; and to the eminent surgeon

and physician, Dr. Vargas, one of the Presidents of the Republic.

The climate of Caracas has often been called a perpetual spring. “What

can we conceive to be more delightful than a temperature which in the

day keeps between 20° and 26°,[9] and at night between 16° and 18°,

which is equally favorable to the plantain, the orange tree, the coffee

tree, the apple, the apricot, and corn? José de Oviedo y Baños, the

historiographer of Venezuela, calls the situation of Caracas that of a

terrestrial paradise, and compares the Anauco and the neighboring

torrents to the four rivers of the Garden of Eden.”[10]

The hotels, Sullivan describes as being as good as any in Europe. “You

might travel from one end of Old Spain to the other without finding

anything to be compared to them, either as regards cleanliness or the

civility of the landlords.” But as here I am _at home_, you are most

cordially invited to our mansion at the end of the Calle del Comercio,

where you may verify for yourself the truth of the statements concerning

the climate and productions of this fertile valley. We may at once enter

the garden, which occupies nearly the whole square, where, after our

rough ride, we can refresh ourselves with the fruits of the season.

Here, as you perceive, you find growing side by side the refreshing

orange and the luscious apple, the pomegranate and the peach; the

banana, the citron, the guava, the sapodilla, and papaw tree, all of

them eminently tropical fruits, with the pear, the grape-vine, and other

productions of temperate regions. Unsurpassed by any, not even by the

famous Mangosteen of the Spicy Islands, you have here the delicious

Chirimoya, or cherimoyer, as pronounced by Anglo-Saxons, and which I can

only liken to lumps of flavored cream ready to be frozen, suspended from

the branches of some fairy tree amidst the most overpowering perfume of

its flowers; for it is in bearing all the year round, as indeed are most

of the fruit trees you see about this garden, and consequently you may

at all times enjoy the advantage of refreshing the inner as well as the

outer man with a “wilderness of sweets.” Markham,[11] who has tasted

both the chirimoya and mangosteen in their native habitat, gives the

preference decidedly to the former, and says of it: “He who has not

tasted the chirimoya fruit has yet to learn what fruit is.” “The

pineapple, the mangosteen and the chirimoya,” says Dr. Seeman, “are

considered the finest fruits in the world. I have tasted them in those

localities in which they are supposed to attain their highest

perfection--the pineapple in Guayaquil, the mangosteen in the Indian

Archipelago, and the chirimoya on the slope of the Andes, and if I were

called upon to act the part of a Paris, I would without hesitation

assign the apple to the chirimoya. Its taste indeed surpasses that of

every other fruit, and Haenke was quite right when he called it the

masterpiece of nature.”

The numerous varieties of hot-house grapes, which in your variable

climate of the north require so much skill and attention to perfect

their growth, here thrive without the least care, and the vines which

you see struggling here and there among the trees for some kind of

support, proceed from _cuttings_ which I brought over six years ago from

one of the best regulated establishments in Connecticut.

Here, too, the stately Mauritia-palm of the Orinoco, the date-palm of

the burning Sahara, the royal-palm of Cuba (Oredoxa Regia), and the

oil-palm of Africa (Eleis guinensis) commingle their majestic crowns

with the dense foliage of the mango tree of India, the aromatic cinnamon

tree of Ceylon, the bread-fruit tree of Otaheite, and the sombre pines

and cypress of northern regions, forming the most effective protection

to the shade-loving magnolia and the delicate violet of your native

woods.

Swarms of tiny and brilliant humming-birds flutter amid masses of

highly-scented orange blossoms that perfume the air around us. Any one

unacquainted with that _bijou_ of the feathered tribe, would mistake it

at first sight for some of the metallic-colored beetles which dispute

with them the nectar of the fragrant flowers, so brilliant is the lustre

shed by both. “For that peculiar charm which resides in flashing light

combined with the most brilliant colors, the lustre of precious stones,

there are no birds, no creatures that can compare with the

humming-birds. Confined exclusively to America--whence we have already

gathered between three and four hundred distinct species, and more are

continually discovered--these lovely little winged gems were to the

Mexican and Peruvian Indians the very quintessence of beauty. By these

simple people they were called by various names, signifying ‘the rays of

the sun,’ ‘the tresses of the day-star,’ and the like.”[12]

You may have noticed in your conservatories at home a well known creeper

called the passion-flower, on account of a fancied similarity in the

arrangement of its inflorescence with the instruments of torture

employed in the martyrdom of the Saviour, such as the crown of thorns,

the three nails, the hammer, and even the spots of sacred blood round

the pillar of agony. The plants of this genus are general favorites with

northern horticulturists only on account of the beauty and delicious

aroma of their flowers, for they bear no fruit with you; but here, this

constitutes their principal merit, especially that of the _granadilla_,

which you may perceive intertwining its graceful vines amongst yonder

arbor set up for its support. Huge watermelon-like fruits hang from its

delicate tendrils as if suspended by a thread; cut open one of them; you

will find it filled with a nectarian juice, which, when crushed in the

mouth, regale your palate with the compound flavor of the strawberry and

the peach. Other varieties of passion-flower--of which there are many

though less pretentious in size than the granadilla--bear fruit equally

rich in flavor. Unfortunately, not all fructify in the same locality, as

they require different degrees of temperature, and maybe of atmospheric

pressure, also, to ripen their fruit, which they cunningly obtain for

themselves by “squatting” of their own accord higher up or lower down

the mountains, as the case may be.

I could still point out to you many other delicious fruits in this

garden were they in season, such as the _tuna_ or Indian-fig, borne by

the nopal, a species of cactus, on the fleshy, downy stems of which the

cochineal insect is reared for those most valuable crimson and scarlet

dyes “which far outshine the vaunted productions of ancient Tyre;” and

the _pitahaya_, of the same family of plants, notable for the size and

effulgence of its flowers. “It begins to open as the sun declines, and

is in full expanse throughout the night, shedding a delicious fragrance,

and offering its brimming goblet, filled with nectarious juice, to

thousands of moths, and other crepuscular and nocturnal insects. When

the moon is at the full in those cloudless nights whose loveliness is

only known in the tropics, the broad blossom is seen as a circular dish

nearly a foot in diameter, very full of petals, of which the outer

series are of a yellowish hue, gradually paling to the centre, where

they shine in the purest white. The numerous recumbent stamens surround

the style, which rises in the midst like a polished shaft, the whole

growing in its silvery beauty under the moonbeams, from the dark and

matted foliage, and diffusing its delicious clove-like fragrance so

profusely that the air is loaded with it for furlongs round.”[13]

I well remember one night when a distinguished foreigner, General

Devereux, who rendered the patriot cause so marked a service by bringing

over the Irish Legion to assist this country in her struggle for

independence, honored me with a visit while keeping bachelor’s hall in

this--to me then--earthly paradise. The Queen of Night was shining in

all her glory, and the air redolent with the perfume of many exquisite

flowers, among others that of the pitahaya just described, while the

stillness that reigned around the spot, added to my youthful dreams of

fairy lands I had lately visited across the seas, made me feel a

particular pride about our mansion in the capital. Although the old hero

was perfectly blind--as will be recollected by many who knew him in the

United States where he resided afterwards--I could not resist the wish

to invite him to take a stroll about the garden. As we passed close to

the flowers of the pitahaya, the gallant old soldier stopped suddenly,

and seizing me by the hand with an emotion that made me feel the deepest

sympathy for the blind man, said: “How happy you must be here, my young

friend, surrounded as you are by plants that shed such heavenly

perfume!” But when we passed a bower of English honeysuckles, which was

my special favorite, as I had planted it with my own hands, his emotions

were indeed those of a man who felt as though everything on earth was

lost to him--sweet home, friendly associations, the world itself in

fact, and that he was only a wandering spirit in a strange sphere.

This, my good companion, reminds me too that such, more or less, is my

own situation in this my native land, subject as it has been for years

to political convulsions more disastrous to the peacefully inclined,

than those subterranean fires which agitate the soil from time to time.

Therefore our rambles in the capital must be of short duration, and

following the route already pointed out by the traveller Sullivan, we

will proceed on our journey towards the fertile valley of Aragua,

stopping for the night at Las Adjuntas, a village delightfully situated

at the foot of another lofty range of mountains which separates this

from that of Caracas, near the junction of two mountain streams that

form the Rio Guaire which passes near the capital.

Should you ever be troubled with nervousness or dyspepsia from too close

application to business, or even be threatened with that more serious

complaint of cold climates, consumption, don’t let your Doctor bother

you with physic, nor delude yourself with a trip “down South,” Cuba, or

even Europe; all this may at best prolong a miserable existence a little

longer; instead of that, come here at once; bring plenty of books to

while away the _dolce far niente_ of this quiet place; or if you are a

sportsman, your gun and fishing tackle; when sufficiently convalescent

to undergo the fatigues of the journey, buy or hire horses for yourself

and a good _peon_ or guide, and start for the _llanos_, where you will

have to rough it out as I did some years ago, and I guarantee you a

radical cure.

At Las Adjuntas we have the choice of two roads, one for carriages, made

at great cost since Sullivan’s visit to the country, and the other one

right over the mountains; as this is by far the most picturesque of the

two and the one described by him, we will follow on his footsteps, if

you wish to enjoy the glorious scenery, of which he says;

“Next morning, at 3 A.M., our faithful mozo roused us,--at San

Pedro--and we found our mules already saddled. The morning was very

cold, and a cloak was by no means disagreeable. As far as I could make

out by the light of a most glorious moon, San Pedro must be a very

picturesque and flourishing village. We continued ascending through a

thickly-wooded, mountainous path, for about three hours, when we found

ourselves along the summit of the mountain, here called Las Cocuizas.

Here the scenery was truly magnificent. The road wound along the summit

of the Sierra, giving alternate views of the valley of the Tuy, with the

distant valley of Aragua on the one hand, and the valley of Ocumare

bounded the snow-capped mountains that separate the valleys from the

plains on the other. Out of the main valleys narrow little glens wind,

and nestle up into the mountains, till lost to view. Their rounded

sides, and the emerald brilliancy of nature’s carpet with which they

were clothed, reminded me of some of the glens of the Cheviots.

“That morning’s moonlight ride along the summits of the sierra of Las

Cocuizas was certainly one of the most enjoyable I ever remember. It was

almost like magic, when as the sun began to approach the horizon, the

perfect stillness of the forests beneath was gradually broken by the

occasional note of some early riser of the winged inhabitants, till at

length, as the day itself began to break, the whole forest seemed to be

suddenly warmed into life, sending forth choir after choir of

gorgeous-plumaged songsters, each after his own manner, to swell the

chorus of greeting--a discordant one, I fear it must be owned--to the

glorious sun; and when the morning light enabled you to see down into

the misty valleys beneath, there were displayed to our enchanted gaze

zones of fertility embracing almost every species of tree and flower

that flourishes between the Tierra Caliente and the regions of perpetual

snow. It certainly was a view of almost unequalled magnificence. We were

riding amongst apple and peach trees that might have belonged to an

English orchard, and on whose branches we almost expected to see the

blackbird and the chaffinch; while a few hundred yards below, parrots

and macaws, monkeys and mocking-birds were sporting among the palms and

tree-ferns of a tropical climate. I consider that this view alone would

repay any lover of fine scenery for all the troubles and risks of

crossing the Atlantic, for I do not know where one to be compared with

it is to be found in Europe.”

This mountain takes the name of Las Cocuizas from the abundance of Agave

plants growing here, and which impart such peculiar aspect to the

landscape as we descend towards the bed of the Tuy, at the foot of the

mountain. Here we must stop to breakfast and pass the sun before we

proceed on our journey along the Tierra Caliente not far from our

resting-place.

“We found the pretty village of Las Cocuizas,” proceeds Sullivan,

“situated at the entrance of a delicious little glen, down which warbled

the waters of the Tuy. The _Venta_, in fact nearly the whole village was

shaded by one enormous saman-tree,[14] which to the dusty and wearied

traveller gave it a most enticing appearance; neither did it disappoint

our expectations, for a cleaner room and a better breakfast better

cooked and better served, I never wish to taste. This venta at Las

Cocuizas is most enchantingly situated at the foot of the mountain and

at the entrance of the valley of the Tuy, which is there a mere glen;

one side is entirely shaded by this enormous tree, and the other

overhanging the Tuy, which with its rocky bed and thickly-wooded,

precipitous banks, reminded one very much of some of the tributaries of

the Tweed. The venta would be a charming place to stay at for a few

days’ angling in the Tuy, which I believe is very good.”

After leaving the venta of Las Cocuizas, we wade through the waters of

the Tuy--no bridge being provided here--and proceed along a well graded

road for carts and carriages skirting the base of another ridge of

mountains until we reach the village of El Consejo, where the great

valley of Aragua, seventy miles in length, properly commences. And now

we are in the great coffee region, “the garden of Venezuela” as it is

very aptly called by common accord. As we ride towards the town of La

Victoria, where we shall stop for the night, we pass several extensive

plantations of that delicious shrub, shaded like the cacao by those

stupendous erythrinas which you might mistake for a primeval forest,

were it not for the uniformity of their growth and dazzling blossoms.

Nothing in your vaunted system of cultivation in the North can excel the

care bestowed upon these plantations, which must be kept in the best

order to yield handsome returns; but as we cannot stop to visit one of

these just now, you will permit me to repeat what the traveller often

quoted before, says in regard to the region we are traversing:

“The valleys of Aragua are the most thickly populated and the most

highly cultivated of all the districts of Venezuela. The level of the

valley is two thousand feet below the valley of Caracas, consequently

the heat much more intense. Coffee is now the chief article of

exportation from Venezuela, the fluctuating price of which has of late

years been very injurious to the country. The berry grown is of a

superior quality, and fetches a much better price than the Cuban or

Brazilian coffee, though not quite so high as that grown in Jamaica.

Some of the coffee and sugar estates we passed were on the largest

scale, employing as many as two hundred slaves,[15] besides the same

number of laborers. A coffee plantation, either in blossom or when the

berry is ripe, is the most beautiful culture in the world. The plant

itself, with its regular shoots like a miniature tree, and red berries,

is one of the most graceful shrubs I know; and as between the rows of

coffee-trees they usually plant plantains and bananas, these with their

enormous clusters of yellow fruits and their leaves of some six or eight

feet in length, add greatly to the effect, and give the country the

appearance of a large fruit garden. Moreover, as it is necessary to

plant the mango, and other large fast-growing trees, to protect the

ripening berry from the deluging rains and scorching heats, whenever you

pass a coffee plantation, even in the hottest day in the midst of

summer, when the whole face of the country is parched up and of an

unhealthy brown color, the eye is continually refreshed by the cool,

verdant appearance of these shaded gardens.”

I may add that the coffee of Venezuela is of various qualities,

according to whether it is raised in Tierra Caliente or Tierra Fria, _id

est_, coffee of the low, warm valleys, or coffee of mountainous

districts; this last is superior to the former, and bears in consequence

the highest price in the market. Again, _café trillado_, and _café

descerezado_, which means coffee dried in the berry as it is gathered,

and husked afterwards by a tread-mill composed of a heavy wooden wheel

revolving in a circular trough of masonry; and coffee deprived at once

of its pulpy covering by machinery as soon as it is picked, dried

afterwards in the sun upon extensive platforms of masonry called

_patios_, and passed through different sets of machinery to deprive the

grain or bean of the adhering shell and pellicle. The coffee thus

prepared is superior in quality to that which is _trillado_ for want of

means on the part of the planter to put up the expensive works required

for this operation, and therefore bears a higher price.

Interspersed with these plantations are others of no less importance to

the industry of these valleys, such as indigo, cotton, indian-corn,

wheat and tobacco, all of them requiring the same share of careful

cultivation and intelligent management. “The road we were following,”

continues Sullivan, “was so well kept and so well wooded, and the hedges

so neatly clipped, that I could hardly sometimes help fancying myself

riding down some country lanes in England. We followed one lime hedge,

which enclosed a coffee plantation, for upwards of two miles. It was

the most perfectly kept hedge I had seen in any country; it was four or

five feet high and about three feet thick, and throughout its whole

length, I don’t believe there was a single flaw through which a dog

could have forced its way. Several slaves were employed in trimming it.

In fact, in this climate, where the growth of all inanimate nature is

unceasing, and so rapid, it must employ several hands continually to

keep it in such beautiful order. The scent of the lime as we approached

it from some parched country we had been crossing previously, was most

delicious.”

As there is nothing to interest us in the towns along this route, we

will pass by San Mateo, La Victoria and Turmero, all of them pleasantly

surrounded by plantations until we reach Maracay, the point of our

destination. On our way thither, we come up with that giant of the

vegetable world, the Saman de Güere, so well described by Humboldt in

his Travels, and subsequently by Sullivan. As their statements are

corroborative of the facts given elsewhere by me respecting these

enormous but most graceful mimosas, I will here use the language of the

last mentioned traveller about that of the hacienda de Güere.

“Soon after leaving Turmero we caught sight of the far-famed Saman de

Güere, and in about an hour’s time arrived at the hamlet of Güere, from

whence it takes its name. It is supposed to be the oldest tree in the

world, for so great was the reverence of the Indians for it on account

of its age at the time of the Spanish conquest, that the Government

issued a decree for its protection from all injury, and it has ever

since been public property. It shows no sign whatever of decay, but it

is as fresh and green as it was most probably a thousand years ago. The

trunk of this magnificent tree is only sixty feet high by thirty feet in

circumference, so that it is not so much the enormous size of the Saman

de Güere that constitutes its great attraction, as the wonderful spread

of its magnificent branches, and the perfect dome-like shape of its

head, which is so exact and regular, that one could almost fancy some

extinct race of giants had been exercising their topiarian art upon it.

The circumference of this dome is said to be nearly six hundred feet,

and the measure of its semicircular head very nearly as great. The saman

is a species of mimosa, and what is curious and adds greatly to its

beauty and softness is, that the leaves of this giant of nature are as

small and delicate as those of the silver willow, and are equally as

sensitive to every passing breeze.”

And now for the most picturesque of all the towns on our long ride,

Maracay, not on account of any architectural display about its

buildings, for it has no pretensions of this kind, but for its many

gardens, each house being literally embowered in the choicest

productions of the tropics in the way of fruits, such as orange, lime

and lemon trees, both sweet and sour; caimito or star-apple, a creamy

and luscious fruit growing upon one of the most beautiful trees with

which I am acquainted; the same might be said of two other fruit-trees

cultivated in these gardens, the _mamon_ and _cotopriz_; both bearing

great bunches of an oval fruit the size of a pigeon’s egg, olive-green

in the former, and bright yellow in the latter, containing a kernel

enveloped in a sweet, sub-acid pulp; bread-fruit trees of two kinds and

accordingly distinguished as _fruta de pan_ and _pan de palo_,

bread-fruit and bread-tree--the former being a large pulpy and greenish

fruit very like an Osage orange but larger, containing great numbers of

chestnut-like seeds, which roasted or boiled taste very much like bread,

and the latter a fruit precisely like its congener in appearance, but

destitute of seeds, which assimilates it still more to the “staff of

life” when boiled or baked, for it is beautifully white and compact

inside.

In addition to the foregoing, these gardens offer you a fine display of

other tropical trees no less esteemed for their grateful shade and their

delicious fruits, such as sapotes and sapodillas, both elegant in form

as well as in bearing; and so is also the splendid mamey apple-tree

(mamea Americana) bearing great quantities of large, round and heavy

fruits, brown outside, and golden-yellow within, from which marmalades

and other delicacies are made by the charming Maracayeras.

The family to which the famous chirimoya belongs (anonaciæ) have also

three other representatives hardly inferior to that “master-piece of

nature,” viz.; the _guanábana_ (anona muricata) or sour-sop--an ugly

name in English for such fine fruit--from which a most cooling drink is

made, and still finer ices; the custard-apple, which needs no further

explanation than its name to recommend it; and the _riñon_, (anona

squamosa) also a custardy kindney-like fruit, hence its name.

Butter being expensive, and difficult to keep in this climate, nature

has provided a substitute for it in the fruit of the fine tree (Persea

gratissima), consecrated, as the name implies, to Perseus, the son of

Jupiter and Danaë; thus showing the wisdom of the botanist over the less

cultivated English settlers of the Caribean islands, who call it

_alligator-pear_, I presume, from the fact of its being indigenous to a

country abounding in saurian reptiles, although I am of opinion that a

creature of this sort would rather prefer a more substantial morsel in

the shape of a fat Briton, to a fruit which is well adapted to the taste

of demigods. In shape it resembles a large pear, but the interior of its

rind is lined with a marrow-like substance of a yellowish color, which

assimilates very nearly to butter, the place of which it supplies at the

breakfast-table. It is, in fact, vegetable-butter, and many prefer it to

the ordinary kind.

The extensive family of leguminous or pod-bearing trees also grace these

gardens with three additional members remarkable for fine foliage and

useful products, such as the _algarroba_, with hard-shelled pods,

containing a number of brown, round seeds or beans--also very hard,

enveloped in a farinaceous and very nutricious fecula; a fine aromatic

resin, good for varnishes, exudes from the trunk and branches of this

tree, and a still finer one can be extracted from its horny pericarp by

infusion in alcohol or other extractive medium; _guamos_ (Inga) of

various kinds, with pellucid pods one and two feet in length, containing

a row of beans enveloped in white, cottony pulp, most grateful to the

taste; and the unrivalled tamarind, either as regards beauty of foliage,

brilliancy of blossoms, or the delicacy of its acidulous pulpy pods;

these are candied either in a green state or when fully ripe, affording

in the latter case a most refreshing drink to the fever-stricken in this

climate, when made into a decoction. In blossom, the tamarind-tree is

one of the most charming objects to behold, for amid its feathery,

dark-green foliage, somewhat similar to that of the hemlock, issues a

profusion of golden-yellow branches of delicate flowers, almost dazzling

to the eyes.

The coco-palm, although far away from the sea-coast, its native habitat,

also flourishes in great perfection, contributing not a little to the

splendor of the vegetation in these truly tropical gardens, with its

glorious crown of monster leaves. And last, though not least, the

plantain and banana claim here the supremacy which everyone accords them

over all productions of the tropics. A few plants of each only are

sufficient to supply a whole family with bread, vegetables, fruit, and

preserves of various kinds. “We might be surprised,” observes Humboldt,

“at the small extent of these cultivated spots, if we did not recollect

that an acre planted with plantains produces nearly twenty times as much

food as the same space sown with corn. In Europe, our wheat, barley, and

rye cover vast spaces of ground; and in general the arable lands touch

each other whenever the inhabitants live upon corn. It is different

under the torrid zone, where man obtains food from plants which yield

more abundant and earlier harvests. In those favored climates the

fertility of the soil is proportioned to the heat and humidity of the

atmosphere. An immense population finds abundant nourishment within a

narrow space covered with plantains, casava, yams, and maize.”[16]

Well has the immortal bard of the Torrid Zone[17] sung the marvellous

exuberance of this plant in the following lines, which I regret to be

unable to translate.

“Y para tí el banano,

Desmaya al peso de su dulce carga.

El banano, primero

De cuantos concedió bellos presentes

Providencia à, las gentes

Del Ecuador feliz con mano larga;

No ya de humanas artes obligado

El premio rinde opimo;

No es á la podadera, no al arado,

Deudor de su racimo.

Escasa industria bástale cual puede

Robar á sus fatigas mano esclava;

Crece veloz, y cuando exbausto acaba,

Adulta prole en torno le sucede.”

_Silva á la Zona Tórrida._

Water being abundant throughout these gardens by the provident care of

the inhabitants in bringing it in flowing streams from a great distance,

they present at all times of the year, even during the driest months of

summer, the perpetual spring-like verdure which constitutes their

principal charm. Not far from here is the fine lake of Tacarigua or

Valencia, which by its gradual but marked evaporation, is constantly

adding to the already extensive area of fertile land nowhere to be found

like it in the wide world, and which doubtless extorted, even from an

Englishman, the following confession:

“It is a great pity Venezuela is so much out of the high roads of

travel, and that the inconveniences, for Europeans, of getting at it,

are so great. It is, in my opinion, the most beautiful country, as

regards climate, scenery, and productions, in the world. The inhabitants

are intelligent, civil, and honest; and although there is no excessive

wealth in the country, there is, on the other hand, no great poverty,

and actual want is unknown, where beef can be procured to any amount for

a half penny a pound, and plantains and bananas almost for nothing. The

inns are excellent, and travelling perfectly safe. You may, on the sides

of its precipitous valleys, in a few hours, ascend from the productions

of the torrid zone to those of the frigid. You may, if you like, dine

off beefsteak and potatoes, cooled down with French claret or real

London stout; or, if you prefer it, you may, in imitation of Leo X. and

the Emperor Vitellius, feast your guests on joints of monkey and jaguar,

and have your _entremêts_ of parrots’ tongues and humming-birds’ breasts

washed down with sparkling pulque, tapped from the graceful maguey

growing at your very door. In fact, there is no luxury you cannot enjoy

at a moderate expense. Servants are cheap; and you can buy a horse for

five shillings, though it will cost you fifteen to have him shod! The

shooting on the _llanos_ and in the mountains, according to all

accounts, is very grand. The woods are filled with jaguar and ocelot, to

say nothing of snakes, and the plains with deer and wild cattle.

“If any kind fairy were to offer me the sovereignty of any part of the

world out of Europe, with power to rule it as I choose, my choice would

certainly fall on Venezuela. I am fully convinced it only _wants a

government strong and stable enough to ensure the necessary protection

to capital and property_, to render it one of the most flourishing

countries in the world. I look back upon the few weeks I spent there as

amongst the most enjoyable I ever passed; and if ever any opportunity

was to offer of revisiting that delicious country, I should do so with

pleasure. Any traveller, wishing to judge for himself, has only to go by

the West India steamer to St. Thomas, where he meets the sailing-packet

for La Guaira, which he reaches in four or five days; and with a few

letters of introduction, or even without any, hospitality will meet him

on all hands, and he will never feel a moment hang heavy on his

hands.”[18]

And now, seated under the refreshing foliage of these paradisaical

gardens, rather than expose you to the dangers of a demi-savage country,

I will recount to you the adventures of a former journey, and the

peculiarities of a still more wonderful region.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

1. Frontispiece--Map of Venezuela.

2. Caracas, xxviii

3. Morros de San Juan, 19

4. The Llanos, 26

5. Pounding Corn, 36

6. Striped Catfish, 61

7. The Caribe, 63

8. The Electric Eel, 68

9. Troop of Wild Horses, 84

10. A Prairie on Fire, 97

11. Encounter with a Crocodile, 114

12. The Saman, 122

13. Garzero, 137

14. The Rodeo, 175

15. Training the Boys, 200

16. Mata-caballo, 210

17. Coral Snake, 212

18. Aristolochia Apurensis, 219

19. The Jaguar, 222

20. The Puma, 233

21. _Garzoneando_, 242

22. The Armadillo, 245

23. The Great Ant-Eater, 257

24. Among the Crocodiles, 281

25. Young Crocodile, 282

26. Crocodile Basking in the Sun, 292

27. Our Leader, 329

28. Capture of Spanish Gunboats by Llanero Cavalry, 350

29. Dr. Gallegos Sewing the Belly of a Wounded Horse, 365

30. Scenes at El Dorado, 391

31. Arrow used in Turtle Shooting, 443

32. Homeward Bound, 448

TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES.

CHAPTER I.

THE DEPARTURE.

“Y greyes van sin cuento

Paciendo tu verdura desde el llano

Que tiene por lindero el horizonte,

Hasta el erguido monte

De inaccesible nieve siempre cano.”

ANDRES BELLO, _Silva á la Zona Tórrida_.

On a fine morning of a tropical December month, a jolly cavalcade, or

rather a heterogeneous assemblage from the various castes composing the

bulk of the population in the Venezuelian Republic, was to be seen

traversing the streets of the beautiful town of Maracay, in the

direction of the road leading to the _Llanos_ or Pampas of Apure, a

region widely celebrated for its wildness, its dangers, and the many

exploits enacted therein. There the father of the writer owned extensive

cattle-farms, and the aforesaid company proposed spending the remainder

of the summer season in hunting among the untamed herds constituting the

wealth and commerce of that wild region.

I shall never forget the exciting scenes of that eventful day; it forms

one of the most pleasing episodes of my life. Full well do I remember

also the picturesqueness of the variegated costumes of the riders;

their red and blue ponchos flowing in the wind as they cantered to and

fro through the unusually animated streets of the little town, taking

leave of their friends, and provisioning their saddle-bags with the

necessaries they required; the trampling and neighing of horses; the

parting adieux and waving of handkerchiefs in the hands of lively

brunettes, as we defiled under the windows and balconies of the Calle

Real, crowded with anxious relatives, friends, and sweethearts of many a

gallant cavalier, who might never return from his distant and perilous

journey. For my part, I confess, that although for sundry reasons I

regretted departing from our romantic abode in the valleys of Aragua,

still, so great was my desire to visit the land of the wild bull and

crocodile, that for several nights before leaving home I dreamed of

nothing but wild scenes and terrible encounters with the lords of the

savannas.

The method of conducting a South American cattle farm is entirely

different from that usually practised among the more peaceful scenes of

the North American prairies. Here the cattle, accustomed from their

birth to the friendly voice of man, readily obey his commands and follow

him instinctively wherever he leads them. In the plains of South

America, on the contrary, the herds hear no other than the voice of

Nature in her sublimest moods, in the thunders of the storm, and when in

her vernal showers she calls upon the crocodiles and other drowsy

reptiles, awakening them from their periodical summer’s lethargy; and

nightly the roar and screams of savage beasts answering each other in

the darkness. The cattle, thus roaming over extensive plains, and free

of all restraint, necessarily require to be occasionally collected

together for the purpose of branding and marking the young calves, which

increase there with astonishing rapidity. If this precaution were

neglected, they would in time become so dispersed over those boundless

plains, as to be altogether irreclaimable. This operation cannot be

accomplished, however, without a great number of men and horses, both

well trained to and thoroughly acquainted with this demi-savage

occupation. Therefore we mustered now quite a little army of _Llaneros_,

or natives of the Llanos, who are the only individuals capable of

prosecuting and successfully performing the arduous duties appertaining

to these cattle forays.

* * * * *

Our retinue presented pretty much the appearance of an oriental caravan;

it consisted of more than a hundred individuals of all grades and

colors; from the bright, rubicund faces of merry England’s sons, to the

jetty phiz of the native African, all of whom, notwithstanding,

fraternized as though sprung from the same race.

Our company, moreover, had been organized as if for a military campaign,

and formed the nucleus of a more extensive camp, to be increased by

additions from different places along the route. The leader--General

Paez--besides having acquired in early life a practical knowledge of

this peculiar warfare, possessed in addition the rare gift of being--in

the opinion of many--“the first rider in South America,” and withal the

most accomplished Llanero in the Republic. His dispositions were

accordingly made in a manner most likely to insure success in this

strange campaign; passing in review every person and every object, with

as scrupulous care as he bestowed upon the legions under his command in

the long strife for his country’s freedom; distributing each particular

horse with reference to the skill and special duties of his rider, and

every load according to the strength of each beast of burden.

Next in importance to the Leader was a Surgeon and Physician, whose

valuable services were to be frequently called into requisition.

Although we were not now to encounter powder and ball, we had to deal

with no less dangerous enemies in the form of wild bulls, snakes, and

crocodiles, without reckoning the pestiferous marshes of the country.

After our Surgeon came the Treasurer; his duty was to conduct safely the

military chest of the expedition, consisting of sundry bags of hard

dollars, ponchos, checkered linen handkerchiefs of the peculiar pattern

worn with so much pride by Llaneros on the head, knives, sword blades,

and various other articles of barter which they prize more than money

itself, and for the attainment of which they labor hard and even expose

their lives.

To me was assigned the honorable post of Secretary to the expedition,

whose pleasant duty was to keep its records, and at times those of the

political “Bulls and Bears” of the country at large. Attached to this

office were an English amateur of wild sports, an English artist of

considerable merit, and a few others, who, like myself, not being

sufficiently trained to the hard operations of the field, were forced to

be content with the tamer occupations of the cattle farm, and only an

occasional foray among the smaller game of the savannas.

I will mention two other individuals, who, although filling less exalted

positions than the preceding--being the cook and the washerman--were

very necessary to our comfort; not that we felt over-scrupulous with

regard to the dressing of either ourselves or that of the savory dishes

of the Llanos--where I relished a beafsteak _au naturel_ with as much

gusto as though prepared by the Delmonicos or Maillards of New York--but

an early cup of coffee was a luxury not to be despised, and an

occasional scouring of our scanty wardrobe was equally an essential. The

cook was a mulatto by birth, whose name--Mónico--bore some similarity to

that of the distinguished caterer of William street, and was as great a

favorite with us as the latter is among the “down town” gentry of the

great city, not only on account of his good nature and skill in the

preparation of the delicious beverage before mentioned,

“que en los festines

La fiebre insana templará á Lieo,”

but also for the aid he lent his companions in mending their tattered

garments, being as accomplished a tailor and shoemaker as cook. Gaspar,

the washerman, was a lame negro rather advanced in years, but with all

the vivacity of his race still sparkling in his eyes. He had earned some

reputation in his time as a brave soldier during the protracted war of

Independence, but, disabled now by a bullet and sundry tiger scars,

testimonials of his good service in the cause of humanity, could perform

no other work than the rather feminine one allotted to him on this

occasion. He, however, possessed other accomplishments, among which the

chief was that of recounting his adventures in the wars and with the

wild beasts of the field, which made him a desirable companion and

general favorite.

Poor fellows! they are both dead, and their bones, as well as those of

most of that little band of heroes, are now bleaching in the hot sun of

the tropics, amid the waving grass of those savannas once rendered

famous by their deeds of valor and enlivened by their chivalrous songs.

After faithfully following their leader through dangers and hardships no

less terrible than those of the battle-field, one by one they fell, not

by foe “in battle arrayed,” nor the terrible stroke of the wild bull,

but by the assassin’s treacherous hand, and those of the unprincipled

myrmidons of military misrule; not because of their political influence

in the councils of the Nation, but for being the faithful followers of

their beloved Chieftain.

The reader has now been introduced to those constituting the Staff of

the expedition; but in addition a host of attendants and idlers formed

the rank and file of this motley assemblage. Each one of these had a

special duty to perform. Some were _asistentes_, or the personal

attendants of the former, as no _blanco_ ventures to travel in the

Llanos without some _cicerone_ of the country to guide him over the

trackless wastes, to saddle his horse, and see that both horse and

rider are comfortably quartered for the night. Others were appointed to

conduct the beasts of burden, of which there were a formidable array;

while the most experienced riders were intrusted with the care and

guidance of our _madrina_, or pack of supernumerary horses, which formed

by far the most efficient element of our expedition.

Our drove consisted of about two hundred spirited chargers, as swift and

slim as any that ever tramped the hot sands of Yemen or the Sahara;

these were to be reinforced with fresh relays from the cattle farms, to

supply the place of those which might be carried off from various causes

during those exciting hunts.

The only method of travelling as yet adopted in the country is on

horseback. This is at first somewhat fatiguing to those unaccustomed to

long journeys; but the traveller soon becomes inured to it, and ends by

preferring it to any other, on account of the exhilarating sensation of

independence he experiences; at all events, it is the most convenient

that can be adopted in a country which, like the Pampas, is subject to

vast inundations, and overgrown in all its extent by the rank herbage of

the savannas. On the mountains, mules are usually preferred for their

surefootedness, as also for their astonishing endurance of hunger and

fatigue; but in the Pampas, where journeys must be accomplished with

great expedition and rapidity, they are comparatively worthless from the

shortness of their gait, and also because their hoofs become softened by

the marshy soil which everywhere prevails, they being never shod, owing

to a mistaken notion of the riders, who believe that by so doing the

surefootedness of the animal is impaired. The best horses,

consequently, had been selected on this occasion, but were not to be

saddled until we reached the Llanos. These were all collected into a

_madrina_ or drove, together with the _vaqueros_ or horses destined for

the chase, and placed under the charge of half a dozen experienced

Llaneros, who were to drive them loose across the country. In the mean

time we would perform on mules the first four days of our journey, which

lay across the rough and hilly country between the valleys and the

plains. As beasts of burden, mules are particularly serviceable; in view

of this we had collected a pack of about twenty for the purpose of

transporting our loads, consisting partly, as I have observed, of

various descriptions of goods for distribution among the Llaneros, in

part payment of their wages; but the greater number were laden with our

own chattels and provisions; for although the Llanos are justly regarded

as a land of plenty, the habitations are yet so widely distant, that it

is expedient to provide for all contingencies.

Our road, at times, lay across extensive fields of sugar cane, indigo,

and tobacco; or through vast plantations of Erithynas (_bucarales_)

raised for the protection of the shade-loving Cacao trees, loaded with

the luscious bean that yields its “divine food”[19] to gods and mortals.

At other times, extensive tracks of waste lands (_rastrojos_) overgrown

with a luxuriant vegetation, intercepted the line of our march, giving

the country a wild and desolate aspect. Land is so cheap and plentiful

in Venezuela, that it is always more advantageous for the planter,

whenever the land has become exhausted with repeated cultivation, to

clear a new patch of ground for his crop, than to trouble himself about

restoring to the ground by artificial means what nature will provide in

the course of time. The rapidity with which a patch of waste land, that

only a year or two before had been abandoned as unserviceable, becomes

covered with an exuberant vegetation in the tropics, is quite

extraordinary. Hardly have the plough and hoe of the industrious

husbandman ceased to harass the land with their incessant toil, when an

entirely different crop of indigenous plants, which had been silently

struggling for existence, now make their appearance, and change the

aspect of the landscape with new forms of vegetation. Insignificant

weeds at first, scarcely worth noticing, they soon attain sufficient

strength to arrest the progress of any stragglers that might have

remained of the plantation. In a short time they have acquired the size

and form of well-developed trees, with boughs spreading far above a man

on horseback; and before two summers have elapsed, not a vestige remains

of what was once a flourishing plantation. An endless variety of

creepers, such as convolvulus, bignonias, and passion flowers, now find

support among their numerous branches, forming with them the most

picturesque bowers and arcades, or hanging by their sides in graceful

garlands and festoons of the most exquisite beauty. Our troop of

supernumerary horses, as if unwilling to leave behind these delightful

retreats, did not fail to profit by the tangled nature of the cover,

frequently eluding the vigilance of the drivers, and dashing forward

whenever they saw an opening to decamp. The most skilful management on

the part of the drivers was then required to disentangle them from the

thick jungle; otherwise we should have arrived at the end of our journey

with less than half their number. It was quite amusing to see those

reckless fellows gliding here and there through the tangled woods in

full pursuit of the refractory animals, now hanging from one leg down

the sides of their steeds, or stretched over their necks to avoid being

lifted from the saddle by the intervening branches. In spite of all

precaution, and the vigilance of their drivers, we missed several

valuable hunters in the course of the journey, every one of which made

his way back to the _potreros_ or old grazing grounds with unerring

precision. So remarkable is this peculiarity in horses of one place

driven across a strange country, and the cunning they display in

effecting their escape, that although we left instructions along the

route to secure all deserters, most of those we missed at a considerable

distance from Maracay, made their way back across the fields, avoiding

in their flight the public roads and populated districts through which

we had passed.

Late in the evening we reached San Luis de Cura, a town of some

importance on our route. Although we had there many friends of whose

hospitality we could have availed ourselves, we preferred passing the

night at a _Pulperia_, or country inn, a short distance in

advance--hotels being yet unknown in that part of the country. Our

numerous retinue, and especially our horses, accustomed to the

unrestrained freedom of the _potrero_--an enclosed field attached to the

_Pulperia_--precluded all idea of seeking accommodations within the

narrow limits of a city residence. Declining, therefore, all invitations

to that effect, we pushed on to a place called El Rodeo, a few miles

further.

San Luis de Cura--or Villa de Cura, as it is usually called--is a sort

of entrepôt to which the people of the Llanos resort from time to time

to barter the products of their farms for those of foreign manufacture,

retailed there by country traders. It is, in fact, the connecting link

between the agricultural and pastoral sections of the republic; hence we

find there the strangest admixture of wild and civilized manners and

costumes curiously intermingled in all the pursuits and vocations of the

people. Thus we often meet with persons of respectability clad in the

elegant city dress, and riding a horse entirely caparisoned in the gaudy

attire of the Llanos, and _vice versa_.

Our accommodations at the inn were not of the most inviting description,

neither its apartments nor the _potrero_ affording much comfort to the

weary caravan, after their long ride. A stony bank on the slope of the

barren hill for couch and the broad dome of heaven for roof, with not

even posts enough from which to sling our hammocks, was all the

hospitality we received at the Pulperia. We slept soundly

notwithstanding, softening our beds of pebbles by spreading our ponchos

over them, while each man’s saddle, serving at once as pillow and

larder, furnished us with supper on this occasion. The llanero saddle is

admirably adapted for the rough journeys of the country, and though

somewhat ponderous, renders good service to the wandering Llanero in his

long peregrinations. These saddles, usually styled _vaqueras_, in

allusion to the occupations of the riders, appear to be modelled after

the gay accoutrements of the Arabs; the same profusion of silver

ornament and bright-colored trimmings of morocco, the high peak in

front, and still higher cantle behind. A comfortable _pellon_ or

shabrack, made either of an entire sheepskin or horse hair dyed black

and neatly braided at one end, covers the entire seat, and hangs from it

in graceful folds. Numbers of bags and pockets--_bolsas_--made of the

same material as the saddle, and in keeping with the rest, are affixed

to it for the purpose of stowing away all those little commodities so

essential to the traveller on a long journey, such as _papelon_, a sort

of brown sugar in cakes resembling maple sugar, cheese, cakes of Indian

corn, and _aguardiente_, a beverage equally celebrated for its use and

its abuse. The stirrups, which are usually carved from a block of wood,

present the peculiarity of being longer and heavier than any ever

adopted by equestrians. Although termed _africanos_, they are just the

reverse of their cognomens, as can be seen by comparing the subjoined

designs.

An expert rider never places his whole foot in the stirrup, as is the

case with the Arabs, but holds it with his big toe, so as to disentangle

himself readily in case of a fall. This habit gives a crooked shape to

the feet and legs of the rider, which peculiarity entitles him to the

credit of being a good horseman.

[Illustration]

The carvings on some of these stirrups are very fanciful, and display

considerable taste. Their beauty is thought to consist chiefly in the

two triangular appendages at the bottom with which they urge on their

horses.

The _cobija_ or poncho is also a most indispensable commodity on these

long journeys; and no traveller should omit providing himself with one,

especially during the rainy season. It is fully six feet square, with a

hole in the centre to admit the head, and its office is twofold, viz.,

to protect the rider and his cumbrous equipment from the heavy showers

and dews of the tropics, and to spread under him when there is no

convenience for slinging the hammock. It also serves as a protection

from the scorching rays of the sun, experience having taught its wearer

that a thick woollen covering keeps the body moist and cool by day, and

warm by night. The poncho used in Venezuela is made double, by sewing

together two different blankets, the outside one being dark blue and the

inner one bright red, which colors, as is well known, are differently

acted upon by light and heat. By exposing alternately the sides of the

poncho to the light according to the state of the weather, those

modifications of temperature most agreeable to the body are obtained.

Thus, when the day is damp and cloudy, the dark side of the poncho,

which absorbs the most heat, is turned towards the light, while the

reverse is the case when the red surface is presented to the sun. On the

same principle, the _manta_, or white linen poncho, is worn when the sun

is very powerful, the color in this instance repelling the rays of light

more readily than the red surface of woollen materials. The _manta_ is a

very expensive luxury on account of the embroideries that usually

decorate it, and which might rival in elegance the finest skirt of a New

York or Parisian _belle_. When worn by a gallant cavalier on a sunny

day, it presents in the distance a very picturesque appearance, not

unlike the graceful bornouse of the Arabs.

Equally useful and expensive is the hammock, one of the few articles of

native manufacture produced in Venezuela, and one which has thus far

baffled the ingenuity of foreign weavers to imitate. It is woven by hand

on looms of rude construction in very tasteful designs, and trimmed with

fringings of the most complicated pattern. A fine hammock costs from

fifty to sixty dollars.

It may truly be said that with hammock, poncho, and the saddle with its

array of pockets, &c., the roving dwellers of the pampas are at home

wherever they may be. They are, in fact, the tent, bed, and valise best

adapted to the country, affording them all the comfort that a princely

rajah could experience under his gorgeous panoply of oriental

magnificence, and possessing, moreover, the advantage of being easily

conveyed from place to place, in a small compass, by the riders. The

hammock and the poncho usually form a bundle behind the saddle; with

them the traveller makes himself a tent when camping out, by stretching

out a rope from end to end of the hammock, over which the poncho is

thrown at oblique angles, and then tied securely to the rope. Under it

the traveller may now defy the storm, and even Old Boreas himself, as

the stronger the tent is impelled to and fro, the more lulling to the

sleeper will be the motion imparted to it from the outside.

It is surprising to see a horse of so small stature as those from the

Llanos generally are, carry on his back both the weight of the rider and

his ponderous equipment for such considerable distances; but the fact

is, that the loads are so well distributed and counterbalanced, that the

animals feel no material inconvenience therefrom.