was changed. In a minute or two, with scarcely
any warning, clouds came drifting over the
hills; there was a sound of very subdued
thunder, a sharp shower for about a quarter of
an hour, and out came the sun again. This
process happens daily, sometimes twice a day,
in this delightful climate, where the temperature
never varies more than four degrees of
Fahrenheit from 78 deg. to 82 deg. In this
respect Valencia resembles, but excels, Singapore.
Yet, the sun being vertical, it is not
safe to be exposed to its rays between
ten A.M. and four P.M. One day Don Manuel
M., a native of the country, paid me a visit,
with his face literally flayed. "It's all from
riding about in the sun," said he; "so you,
who are a stranger, must not attempt it." A
young American, who came to Valencia last
year, thought to harden himself, and was
continually in the sun; but he died mad, just after
he had told us that he had got the better of the
climate.

The people of Valencia (except the Posaderos,
or innkeepers, who seem by some strange monopoly
of evil qualities to be in general ugly,
dirty, and avaricious) are the handsomest, kindest,
most hospitable race imaginable. I am bound
to speak well of them, for I never received
more kindness anywhere. Among other attentions,
I had a continual succession of fresh
horses sent me to ride. I took my first
gallop that Sunday evening on a handsome
grey, not unlike an Arab. I rode five or six
miles on the way to the lake, and coming home
saw a wild animal of the leopard or tiger-cat
species. Leopards are extremely numerous all
over Venezuela, and the puma, or American lion,
is not uncommon near Valencia. I saw one
that was killed in the garden of General Uslar's
country-house, which was about five feet long.

Next day, August the 15th, a European, who
had been long in the country, came to take me
to a bull-fight at Nagua, a village five miles
west of Valencia. I was rather surprised, and
not much gratified, at the appearance of the
vehicle which was to convey us to the spectacle.
It was a common cart of the coarsest
description; yet in that identical cart the President
of the Republic, at the conclusion of the
last war, made his triumphant entry into
Valencia. Our driver, a rough fellow three parts
tipsy, drove us at a furious pace over stones,
holes, and furrows in the road, so that conversation
could be carried on only by jerks. On
arriving at Nagua, we found there was to be no
corrida, as the bulls were not forthcoming; but
en revanche, abundant entertainment was provided,
in the shape of gaming, swearing, and
tippling, to say nothing of a little stabbing
and not a little debauchery. But a bull-fight
had been intended, for about two hundred
and fifty yards of the principal street was
palisaded at either end, and in the space between,
sundry caballeros were galloping up and down,
and showing what they would have done had
there been any bulls to encounter.

The houses on each side of the street were full
of roisterers. We entered one of them, and
were introduced to a general: a very handsome,
powerfully built man, standing about five feet
eleven: with large bright eyes, a hooked nose,
and a pink and olive complexion. Among the
company were ten or a dozen men, whose thews
and stature would have recommended them to
the Blues. One of these, a negro, was at least
six feet three inches high, and looked like a man
who would have been a dangerous antagonist to
King or Mace. On being introduced to the
company, we drank tumblers of bitter ale in a
very solemn manner with every individual near
us: a ceremony which completely relieved me of
any inclination to touch more liquid for the rest
of the day. A short thickset personage, who
was evidently the orator of the assembly, now
put himself to the fore, and addressed a string
of sententious remarks to me, of so prosaic a
nature as to depress my spirits far below the
point above which they had been elevated by
the ale. He spoke at great length in praise of
his government, and of his countrymen, something
after this fashion: "In what country but
this, after a war of unprecedented character,
which rolled its destructive course during five
long revolving years, would you, a stranger, be
able to move about unarmed, with, doubtless, a
considerable sum in your possession, and yet
safe, secure, and even unapprehensive? &c. &c."
At the expiration of the harangue, I was forced
to pledge the orator in two more tumblers of
bitter ale. To escape from this persecution, I
made a rush to the gaming-table and pretended
to be immensely interested in the play. A
handsome bold-looking fellow, who was, they
said, an American colonel, but who had probably
assumed that character for the nonce, and who
seemed to be master of the concern, immediately
began to explain the game to me, and assured
me that a gentleman, a friend of his, had won
a large sum that morning. Hereupon a tall,
dirty Yankee-looking individual, with a
ominous obliquity of vision, interposed, saying:
"Guess you're talking, stranger, of the gentleman
that won the seven hundred dollars, and
began with nothing. Guess I'll fix you gratis,
if you'd like to try his line of play, for I saw
how he done it." My new friends soon found
their allurements thrown away upon me, so
they left me alone; and, indeed, their attention
was presently fully occupied. A brawny
peasant, who had been playing at the end of
the table furthest from me, suddenly started
to his feet, and, drawing his machete, made
a rush at the colonel, his face distorted and
his eyes blazing with rage. His spring was
so sudden and so violent, that he overthrew
five or six persons, who cursed and belaboured
one another on the floor, each imagining that
the man next him was the cause of his upset.
But long experience had taught the confederate
gamesters what to do. One of them, who had
evidently been watching the poor losing wretch,
clutched hold of his shoulders, and another,
seizing his wrist, twisted the machete out of his
hand, while the tall colonel himself rising up