As we were very busy conversing, I did not
notice the sentry, and indeed he was such a mite
of a man, that I might have been pardoned for
overlooking him. It seems that in Venezuela
''such divinity doth hedge" a sentinel that no
passer-by must come within a yard of him.
Having approached within the limits, the small
warrior soon convinced me that his dignity was
not to be so offended with impunity. In the
twinkling of an eye he brought down his musket
with a terrible rattle to the charge, and very
nearly wounded me a little above the knee, at
the same time snarling out some unintelligible
words. It is a curious fact that the Venezuelans
are, generally speaking, a very civil race, until
they put on uniform (a red uniform, by-the-by,
like the English), when their whole nature seems
to be soured. "Don't go near that sentry,"
was a caution I often received, and I once heard
it suggested that a mat with Cave canem!
should be laid down in front of every soldier on
duty. Very different is the demeanour of the
civilians. One day, for instance, I was walking
with a friend on the northern outskirts of
the city, when we met a gardener with a store
of fresh fruit. "Now is your time," said my
friend, "to try your Spanish. See how you
can manage a bargain with the gardener." So,
for the mere sake of talking, we detained the
poor man a long time, and looked at his fruit, and
tumbled it about, until I was ashamed, and would
have bought a quantity of it. Then he asked
where I was living, and when I told him, as it
was a very long way off, he said it would not
pay him to send so far. "Well, then," I said,
"I fear there is nothing to be done, for I should
not know how to direct my servant to come to
you." "That's true," said he, "but I should
like you to taste this fruit, which is really very
fine, so you must accept a few specimens."
With these words he insisted on my taking
some of the best mangoes and other fruit he
had, and positively refused to be paid for it.

Escaping from the surly little sentry, we
entered the Government House, and were
received by the official whose duty it is to usher
in those who come to pay their respects to the
ministers. This official, whose name is Godoy,
is a negro of the negroes, and is a genius in his
way. Many of his bon-mots are current at
Carácas. On one occasion, when government had
suddenly changed hands, a conceited official, who
had just got into power, said to Godoy, "You
here still? How is it that you have not been
turned out with the rest?" "I," said Godoy,
with an affectation of humility, but casting a
significant glance at his interrogator, "never
ascend, and consequently never descend." His
questioner was soon enabled to appreciate the
philosophy of the remark, for he descended from
Government House as suddenly as he ascended,
being turned out by another change. Another
time, during the late troubles, a number of
young men, chiefly students from the university,
collected in a threatening manner near Government
House, and began shouting out various
seditious cries. Godoy, and one of the generals
on the side of the party in power, came out on
the balcony to see what was the matter: on
which stones were thrown at Godoy, and the
mob shouted: "Down with the negroes!"
"Down with the brigands!" "Do you hear
what they say?" asked the general, sneeringly,
of Godoy. "Your excellency," he replied, "I
hear. They are calling out, 'Down with the
negroes!' meaning, of course, me; and 'Down
with the brigands!' which, as no one else is
present, must refer, I suppose, to your excellency."

We were ushered by Godoy into the council-
room, a handsome apartment, looking on the
Gran Plaza. It contains the inevitable
picture of Bolivar. There is also his sash, but
I do not remember to have seen his sword
anywhere. We entered and found a suffocating
atmosphere, for the rooms at Government House
are open only during the day, and the doors and
windows are kept closed trom sunset till the
hour when business commences, which is
generally about 11 o'clock. There are, besides, no
verandahs, so that the public rooms at Carácas
are hotter than those at Madras. However,
as the ministers, with the acting president
at their head, were already assembled, there
was nothing for it but to go forward and take
our seats. The meeting was one of vital
importance to every one present. Not only were
the exigencies of the government most urgent,
but each individual supporter of it knew that
on the satisfactory termination of that meeting
depended his hopes of indemnity for losses, and
the settlement of his claims, whatever they
might be. The public tranquillity, too, was at
stake, because the greater part of the army,
after five years' incessant fighting, had no other
reimbursement to look to for all their toils and
dangers, but what might be allotted to them if
this conference passed off well. Nay more; at
the very moment that we were seated there, an
extensive conspiracy was on foot, in which a
minister and several other persons of rank were
said to be engaged, and which, if some of the
conspirators had not turned informers, might
have been successful. Yet so great was the
command of countenance possessed by the ministers
there assembled, and so complete the absence
of all appearance of excitement, that no one
would have supposed the business under discussion
to have been more than an every-day matter.
War is a sharp teacher, and in troublous times
political students learn in months what it takes
years to acquire in peace. The men who sat
there as ministers had been, not very long
before, one a clerk, another a cattle-farmer,
and so on. And now they were governing a
country three times as large as France, and had
learned so much from the experience of the
late struggle, that they were by no means
unfitted for the task of government.

After a long discussion, our business, for the
time at least, was satisfactorily concluded. C.
and I then took leave, having received several
invitations to breakfast from the ministers; for
at Carácas it does not seem to be the fashion to
give dinners. These invitations we accepted,