twenty-four hours. My reconnoitring seemed
to bring good luck, for the wind sprang up almost
immediately, and we ran before it at the rate of
eight or nine knots an hour, towards our
destination. In a short time we were able, with our
glasses, to make out the Mirador of Solano, or
Castle of Puerto Cabello, which stands on a rock
five hundred feet high, about a quarter of a league
to south-east of the harbour.

We now bega to hug the shore, and passed first
the Bay of Turiamo, nine miles east of Puerto
Cabello, and then those of Patanemo and Burburata.
Here the coast is lined by narrow strips of low
land, covered with bushes, called the islands, on
which the sea breaks very heavily. I observed
that from these the coast runs in a great curve
to the north-west and north, making much more
of a semicircle than appears from the maps.
By this curve of the coast is formed a great bay
called the Golfo Triste, which lugubrious title it
well deserves, the coast being, perhaps, the most
unhealthy in the world. At a quarter-past seven
we were rounding a spit of land which runs out
about half a mile from the coast in a north-westerly
direction. Having rounded the spit, at the
extremity of which stands a lighthouse, extremely
well built, but which has never once been used,
we entered a bay between the spit and the
mainland, which is thus protected from all winds on
the east, north, and south, and found ourselves
in the far-famed harbour of Puerto Cabello. It
only required a glance to see that the port was
secured from storms on the west also, partly by
islands and partly by the curve of the mainland.
In short, there is perhaps no harbour in the world
where the sea is at all times so calm as at Puerto
Cabello. This being the case, it is surprising
that the Spaniards should in the first instance
have made Burburata, which is three miles to
the east, their chief port, it being in every
respect inferior.

Night in the tropics, when once the sun has
set, soon veils everything: so I had no time
on arrival to do more than cast a hasty glance
around. The brig anchored abreast of the fort,
which is on the spit of land already mentioned,
and we had only a hundred yards or so to pull to
the shore. On landing, we walked about a
quarter of a mile to the house of one of C.'s
partners, where we were to pass the night. I
had heard much of the unhealthiness of Puerto
Cabello; but if I had not, I should have formed a
bad opinion of the place from its lying so low, and
being encircled with jungle, and still more from
the peculiar smell which the night air brought to
my nostrils from the swamps, and which made me
shiver. I had smelt the same odour in what are
called the barrier jungles in India, and in some
parts of China, and I knew very well what it
betokened—fever and cholera. I made up my
mind at once as to what I should do. In the first
place, I asked my host for mosquito curtains,
which are a protection, though but a slight one,
against malaria.

"Mosquito curtains!" said my friend, with an
air of surprise; " there are no mosquitoes
here."

"Well, of course you know best," I replied;
"but, if there are none, what means that hum?"

"Oh," he answered, " there may be a few, just
one or two, but we never use curtains. I advise
you to adopt the plan of General A. You know,
when Bolivar was in Guiana, he sent for General
A., who was the only person who had curtains
in camp, and said he must borrow them. The
general brought them accordingly. The next
morning Bolivar asked him how he had slept
without his curtains. ' Excellency, I slept very
well,' was the answer, ' for I always take with
me a second pair;' at the same time producing
an immense liquor-flask, quite empty, which he
had drained as a substitute."

Not admiring this plan, I adopted another of
my own, and as soon as I entered my bedroom, I
closed all the doors and windows, and wrapped
myself up tight in a blanket. As the temperature
of the room was one hundred and ten degrees
Fahrenheit, the effect resembled that of a Turkish
bath, and I streamed with perspiration at every
pore. Of course, while this lasted, there was no
chance of fever, and I slept soundly till two A.M.,
when I struck a light and descried an immense
spider just over my head, and a scorpion of a
pale yellow colour ascending the wall near the
door. After that pleasing discovery I thought it
as well to keep my light burning until dawn.

My first visit in the morning was to the
custom-house, which I found under the
superintendence of the brother of the Secretary of
State for Finance: a small taciturn man, who
replied to all remarks that were not direct
questions by a violent puff of his cigarette, and
a very slight inclination of his head. The
custom-house has but two stores, which will hold only
one-sixth of the amount of goods that can be
warehoused at La Guaira. The trade of Puerto
Cabello is chiefly in exports, the imports being
comparatively insignificant, while the reverse is
the case at La Guaira. I was now able, with
the help of daylight, to appreciate the excellence
of the harbour, which is said to be the best in
America. Not only is it landlocked in the way
already described, and at the same time easy of
access, but the water is so deep that ships can
lie alongside the wharf and take in cargo direct
from the shore. The custom-house, too, is
conveniently situated, being but a few yards
from the wharf, and the road to Valencia passes
straight from it through the town into the
country. It has been suggested that the
pentagonal fort, on the spit of ground to the east
of the harbour, should be pulled down, and the
site turned into docks. Indeed, if a battery which
has been constructed opposite what are called
the reefs of Punta Brava, at the entrance of the
harbour, were mounted with guns of the largest
size, no other defence would be needed. The
castle, or mirador, on the high rock to the
south-east, would not be of much use against a
foreign invasion, but it has ever proved a great