of this ravine runs a stream, in which there are
alligators, for Humboldt saw one nine feet long
near the village. On the night of our arrival the
place happened to be quite full of people, some
on their way to Valencia, and others, chiefly
natives of St. Thomas, who had come out from
Puerto Cabello for a drinking-bout. Up to the
hour of our arrival, these merry folks had been
bringing themselves up to the right pitch of
excitement, and being now thoroughly intoxicated,
they began to dance furiously to music which
strongly reminded me of the Indian tom-toms. I
stood for some time looking at their performances,
while Juan was bargaining for a room with the
landlord of the posada, whose house was already
crammed, but who, at the sight of a handful of
dollars, unceremoniously ejected some of his
guests for our accommodation. As for the
merry-makers whose proceedings I was watching, two
of them would stand up at a time and dance
frantically a sort of jig, with the perspiration streaming
from their faces, until they were quite
exhausted, when they sat, or rather tumbled down,
and were succeeded by two others, who imitated
their example. When I was tired of this, and of
looking at some very pretty creole ladies who
sat outside the door of one of the houses, dressed
in white, as if for a ball, I entered the posada,
which I found alive with fleas, and reeking with
garlic. After a miserable dinner I turned into
my hammock, but not being used to that kind of
bed, I was almost immediately deposited on the
floor on the other side, to the great delight of
Juan, who, however, instructed me how to
conduct myself so as to avoid such an ignominious
ejectment for the future.

Next morning we were up by four A.M., and
after I had packed, and paid eight dollars for our
miserable fare, and had got myself covered with
black ants which bit furiously, we started. The
road continued to ascend, and the hills on either
side grew higher and higher, and the ravines
deeper, till we came to Trincheras, or "The
Trenches," a village so called, because some
French freebooters, who sacked Valencia in 1677,
halted there and entrenched themselves. It
was twenty minutes past eight before we reached
Trincheras, though it is but six miles from
Camburé, and there we stopped and smoked, and
I chatted with some women, who received my
remarks with most extraordinary empressement,
for which I was quite at a loss to account. Close
to Trincheras are some very celebrated thermal
springs, said by Humboldt to be the second
hottest in the world. Of course we inquired about
them at the posada, but, strange to say, the
people could not tell us exactly where the
springs were. At last, a man who was going to
Valencia volunteered to guide us to them, and we
set off. After riding a few hundred yards, we
came to two or three cottages, all the inmates of
which issued forth, and went down on their knees
to me. I was petrified by this extraordinary
procedure, but Juan irreverently bursting into a
peal of laughter, called out, " Do you see that?
May I be hanged if they don't take you, sir, for
the archbishop, who is expected here on his way
to consecrate the church at San Felipe! It is
your hat with the turban round it, a head-dress
they have never seen before, which they take to
be part of an archbishop's travelling costume."
I now began to understand why the women at
the posada had been so deferential, and was not
a little dismayed at finding myself figuring as the
head of the orthodox church in Venezuela.

Our volunteer guide to the hot springs, soon
after we had passed these cottages, bade us
alight and follow him into the jungle, which we
did; but after struggling through thorns and
thick bushes, and wading in muddy pools to no
purpose, we had to return to the road, without
being able to find the springs, minus parts of our
garments, and plus pounds weight of mud, which
no effort could dislodge from our boots. This
failure was several times repeated, and it really
seemed that, having come thousands of miles to
Trincheras, we should have to quit the spot
without seeing what we had heard so much
about. At last a man arrived from the
neighbouring cottages, and led us down to the place
we wanted to see, which is but fifty yards from
the road; but the jungle is so thick, that without
a guide no one would be able to discover it;
and it would be well if some mark to show where
it is, were set up for the convenience of travellers.
The springs are situated in a hollow of about one
hundred yards diameter, which has evidently
once been the crater of a volcano. Through this
hollow flows a rivulet, two feet deep, and never
less than eighteen feet wide in the greatest
drought. Steam ascends from the surface of the
water, the temperature of which, according to
Humboldt, is above ninety degrees. In some
places it must be very much above that point,
for the guide stepped with his bare feet into one
part that was so hot as to make him skip out
again with surprising agility and a doleful
countenance, swearing that he had been scalded by it.
The bed of the stream is coarse-grained granite,
but there is a good deal of mud. The vegetation
grows quite rankly all around this Stygian water,
and clusias, mimosas, and aroms especially thrive
in it. At forty feet from the hot stream is a
rivulet of cold water. Altogether it is a very
curious place, and worthy of a more lengthened
visit than we were able to pay it.

From Trincheras the road continues to ascend
through a lovely forest, bright with fruits and flowers.
The turns are in places very sharp, overlooking
deep ravines. After three miles, we arrived at
what is called the Entrada, or "entrance," which
is the highest point between Puerto Cabello and
Valencia, being probably about eighteen hundred
feet above the sea. Half a mile beyond, the
jungle ends, and the road enters a beautiful
salubrious valley, about twenty miles broad, with
grass and trees, as in England, but without
jungle. Here we put up some fine coveys of
quails. Two miles further on, we came to the
village of Nagua Nagua, and, as it was half-past