channels were now concealed by the chiguire-grass, tangled and impervious, though wearing a surface deceptively smooth. At another bend, a small green prairie would discover itself, thickly clad in the same rich grass to the height of several feet. Again the stream would enter the precincts of a bamboo grove. The numerous clustering columns shot up on high, and curved gracefully outwards till they intersected aloft, forming innumerable arcades and gothic aisles, a labyrinth of sylvan gothic architecture, while the more scattered clumps were bent to the ground by their feathery foliage, or arranged themselves in graceful plumes upon the salient banks of the river.*

Amid all this gorgeous variety in the vegetable kingdom, animal life is not deficient; the monkeys, whose howlings never cease, show themselves in family groups among the boughs, while the chiguire lies hid under his favourite pastures. Bright blue and yellow macaws pass and repass overhead, uttering hoarse cries, while flocks of painted parrots, and whole colonies of glittering paroquets keep up an incessant chatter above; the stakes and boughs which project out of the water are covered with cormorants, divers, and herons, drying their wings or watching their prey, and kingfishers dart over the water, glancing in the sun, while the little spotted flycatcher runs along the river's edge, heedless of the boat, piercing his prey as it suns itself upon the rolling

stones.

The river contains fine fish : one of our boatmen made a blow with his pole at a huge gymnotus, as he lay close to the edge in shallow water; the fish bounced partially out of the water, but got away, indeed there was no attempt to detain him, his galvanic battery enabling him to enforce the motto of, "Wha dare meddle wi' me?"

The evening came on as we were gliding through this ever-shifting scene, yet unwearied with gazing; we had eaten little, expecting to be landed where there would be a clear place for cooking, and boughs for our hammocks; it became, however, nearly dark just as we approached a dangerous part of the descent, and we were forced to haul the boat alongside of the bank and prepare to pass the night there. The boatmen refused to land, and laughed at our attempts to do so; they assured us the place was infested with boas, rattle-snakes, and jaguars; it was at any rate impenetrable.

We were on the borders of a large lagoon, skirted by a dead forest; the forest had apparently been on fire some years before, the huge stems alone shot up with their gaunt boughs, naked and charred; but the forks still loaded with pines, and broad-leaved parasites, and covered by innumerable water-fowl attracted by the lagoon, besides pheasants, pauxis, and all the parrot-tribe, the usual tenants of these regions. The lagoon was at this time a swamp overrun with rank herbage, it was

* I have seen the bamboo much more luxuriant elsewhere; there is a bamboo valley in the island of Grenada, on the mountain-path from La Brea to Grand Etang, in the fashioning of whose gigantic sylvan architecture, the hand of nature has used all the symmetry of art. There is a legend of the Rhine that the architect of the Cathedral of Cologne bartered his eternal welfare for the inspiration which imagined the glories of that sublime fragment. The architect jockeyed the devil, but by a compromise the cathedral remained unfinished: had he been transported in his sleep to that valley without the aid of the Evil One, and awakened in the midst of its magnificence, the inspiration would have been equal; he would have saved his soul alive, and the cathedral might long since have been completed.

also foggy: it was one of those scenes, over which, in tropical climes, yellow fever and black vomit flit incarnate, and where calenture loves to dwell for ever. The boat was narrow, and, being loaded over the sides, to sleep upon it required nicer balancing than sleepers usually practise; however, after making what supper we could, and propitiating the malignant spirits of the swamp with a burnt-offering of cigars, we attempted the feat.

We were soon roused by the rain, which began to descend in an ominous drizzle; however, sleeping and smoking alternately, we got through the night, and moved off with the first daylight; the fogs were soon dispelled by the morning sun. We had not yet cleared the dead forest, the sight of the game in every direction was tantalising, the birds were perching and flying about almost within shot, and the space between us and them seemed spread with a carpet, it was, however, the impervious chiguire grass and low bush, and we were obliged to content ourselves with admiring only and planning excursions to return hither accompanied by a party of shooting peons acquainted with the forest tracks from Trinidad, the higher wages of that island attracting numerous peons from the main to labour during the cane season.

The blue and yellow macaws were here in great numbers; they occupied the trees in pairs. We also here saw, for the first time, an extraordinary looking bird, whose cry not unlike the braying of the jackass, we had before heard in the Delta of the Oronooka; it was the arouca or horned screamer (palamedia cornuta), he is considerably larger than a turkey-cock and has formidable spurs upon his wings, which make him a treacherous pet; we met him afterwards in the latter capacity in Trinidad. Here we first saw him perched upon the dead boughs, uttering his grotesque cries with a spasmodic action of the head and throat; shortly afterwards, we saw several of them in pairs, and picked up in the water one which had been drowned. We had made good progress by noon, when, having shot a lap or spotted cavy, our crew were in ecstacies, and we landed to breakfast. The lap was scalded and split into two, one half was boiled, the other stretched upon twigs and roasted; it might have been that our fare latterly had been very wretched, but the little beast was delicious; it reminded us of cur diverting squire's characteristic description of the armadillo, “Oui, je vous assure, sur mon honneur, qu'il y a quelque chose du sublime dans le goût de ce met la." After descending for two hours more, the river became wider, less rapid, and deep. Several schooners were moored along the banks, their white sails as they hung loose cutting sharply against the dark forest back-ground; there appeared groups of huts, with cattle embarkation places, formed of bamboo enclosures, narrowing towards the water's-edge, to force the cattle to the proper spot. Passing several of these, we found our own schooner at a similar forest village. The Spanish skipper had taken his cargo of oxen on board, and only awaited our arrival, and that of the bastimento. We embarked, the sweeps were put out, and we were soon descending the Caño Colorado. There was at one time a populous wild Indian village at the Caño Colorado; the simple Indians lived on terms of friendship and barter with the sailors and peons who frequented the port; but, the sailors having upon one occasion made all the male Indians drunk,

while they were lying overpowered by the rosy god-if, indeed, a god who drinks rum can be rosy-they adjourned to their huts, where they made themselves so perfectly at home, that the Indians, next morning, shocked at the Sabine gallantry of the sailors, dispersed through the woods; they now never visit the port but in small parties, and are never accompanied by their women. The first contact of the wild man with remote civilisation is seldom to the advantage of the former or the credit of the latter. Our new skipper was evidently a keen sportsman, spying a pouxi among the boughs of a tree, he was in an instant, gun in hand, in a little canoe which was towed astern; how he managed to balance himself on board so tiny a vessel, it was difficult to imagine; the canoe shot across, and disappeared among the hanging boughs; the skipper shortly reappeared, he had fired, but unsuccessfully. Rowing on for two hours after dark, we began to perceive, from the luminous wake and the brilliant plash of the oars, that we had reached the salt water.

In the morning we found ourselves in a broad channel; we passed the mouth of the St. John's River, here a broad estuary, in the night; we had visited one of its sources in the caverns of the guacharos. As we passed on, we observed large flocks of the scarlet ibis feeding along the mud banks, in company with the milk-white egrets. The sun flashed brightly upon their scarlet plumage as they flew off in long lines. We anchored within the bar to wait for full tide, to enable us to pass it, and were shortly joined by another schooner, also laden with cattle. The crew of the latter were rather in a state of festivity; our skipper shook his head as he listened to their rioting, and prophesied that their employers would lose some cattle before they got into Port of Spain. The cattle, indeed, require constant watching; one or other, fatigued by the constrained position, will fling himself down, when his head remains suspended by the horns, by which he is fastened, and the oxen on each side get astride of his hind-quarters. If he is not extricated by the crew, he either gets his neck broke or is smothered. Sailors are a thirsty race everywhere; the only drunkenness we had seen in Venezuela was among the boatmen of San Fernando d'Apure, on the wharf at La Guayra, and in this schooner. I must except the scene in the caverns, but that was an Indian debauch; the Indians embrace every opportunity of getting drunk; that state of excitement is their elysium; and though the juez de paz and some peons did join them upon that occasion, they, too, probably had an Indian cross in their blood.

We crossed the bar late, and the next morning were on the usually placid surface of the Gulf of Paria. The breeze was fresh, but right against us. In the course of the morning, an ungainly monster mass of flesh or fish floated past us; it was a huge cuttle-fish, the crew be came in a state of great excitement; two of them, half Indians, stripped themselves, got into the little canoe before described, and went off with the intention of capturing the piece of flotsam, which is esteemed a delicacy; there appeared to be at any rate quantity on the carcass, if not quality. The sea was rough enough for the gulf, but the little boat went over the waves merrily; the crew were, however, disappointed of their feast, the cuttle-fish went down as they approached. We passed the port of Guiria in the afternoon, where there

were a few vessels lying at anchor, and the next morning anchored at a small village, consisting of three or four houses, where the crew were to cut grass. Our schooner was not well found as to cordage; the deficiency was forcibly brought to my individual notice by the breaking loose of the boom as we were swinging round; the spar caught me in the back, and knocked me overboard. I fortunately pitched clear of the canoe which was alongside, and there were no sharks. The accident cost me a ducking, and the Spaniards numerous "carrambas” and a luminous explanation of the reasons why the strands of the rope would give. The landing-place smelt strongly of yellow fever, and we found it necessary to wade for some distance through black mud. The shore was fringed with mangroves and manchineal trees; the poisonous qualities of the latter are well known. If a horse is tied up to its boughs in a shower, or allowed to rub himself against its leaves, the hair and skin peel off, and he is lucky if he escapes losing his eyes. An affecting tale is told in one of the West India islands, which deserves to be recorded. A wire-haired Scotch manager, lately landed, saw the daughter of a burly commissary, and loved. The fiery hues of his manly whisker soon kindled a flame in the gentle bosom of the lady. How oft they sighed; how oft they spoke of love, it boots not here to say. The lovers strolled along the beach, and, attracted by the broad shade of a stately manchineal, seated themselves at its roots. Whether the serpent formed one of the dram. pers., or they simply attempted the rehearsal of a tableau vivant of the Temptation in the Garden, it is impossible to say; certain it is that the lady plucked an apple, fair to the eye and sweet to the nostril, ate of it, and gave it to the lover, who ate also. They were shortly seized with the most excruciating and unsentimental pains; they gave themselves up for lost, and were wretched, for they were not French, to feed their loves upon charcoal fumes and prussic acid. A benevolent nigger passed by at the moment, and hearing what was the matter, hastened to the sea-side, and returning with a calabash of sea-water, insisted upon their swallowing it down; alternately they sipped and sipped again, and their pains became less acute; after repeated calabashes, they found themselves sufficiently recovered to return home. Their further loves are not material to the story, which was intended to show that the poison and the antidote are found together. The manchineal tree grows upon the edge of the sea, and the beach is strewed with its apples.

The name of the village, or cluster of cottages, was Patao; the servants of the principal house told us that their mistress had gone to town that morning, meaning across the gulf to Port of Spain. Cut off from the rest of Venezuela, they considered their capital to be that of Trinidad. Trinidad, however fertile, imports almost all the provisions for her capital from this coast. The laziness of her labourers increases with their wages; their provision grounds furnish but little to the markets; the niggers, with double the wages that are given in the other British islands, work less, and as servants, are the most worthless in the world. A cook generally selects the occasion of a dinner-party to intimate to his master that he is tired of his service, or wants to visit his friends. The butler takes leave just as the guests are considering that the tedious half-hour before dinner has already been

protracted beyond endurance. "Would that that great man, Wilberforce, were alive (see Stanley's speech), to see the race of scoundrels that he has elevated from being beasts of the field to an independence to which the labouring classes of the fatherland will never attain." A gentleman goes to his stable, and sees a great, long-sided, strange nigger, with his clothes a great deal too tight to admit of his stooping, affecting to rub down his horse with a pocket-handkerchief, or a bit of paper, between his forefinger and thumb. Upon inquiry, he finds that his own groom has left his service, and deputed this elegantly-dressed substitute to complete his month. It is not always, however, that a substitute is even thought of.

We remained till late at the village of Patao, at the back of which were several large plantations of plantains and gardens, from which the supplies for Trinidad are derived. Our skipper was right; the schooner which arrived at the bar of the Guarapiche with us, came in in the course of the morning with two dead oxen, and another carouse commenced among the crew; towards dusk we re-embarked, and the next morning found ourselves beating up from the Bocas towards Port of Spain.

The scenery about the Bocas is extremely beautiful; the islands rise up abruptly; their bases wrought by the action of the waves into numerous caverns, whence issue in the evening flights of diablotins, a smaller species of guacharo, but used in the same manner for food. Their summits are covered with a variety of timber. Their miniature valleys and their shores, where low, are enlivened with numerous cottages and fishing villages. In some of the islands within, there are whale fisheries; when the whale is taken, there appears to be a perfect understanding between the sharks, which abound here, and the fishermen; the latter dig away the blubber, and the former dash in and tear off large masses at each mouthful, never attempting to molest the sailors, even if they should fall into the water. An extraordinary fish called the syrene, or trumpet-fish, is said to frequent the Bocas; never having heard the music, though frequently passing through the Bocas, I extract a description from a local history of Trinidad. The fisherman who plies his labours among the islets, is certainly much more likely to see the wonders of the deep than a simple passenger. "Immediately under the vessel, I heard a deep and not unpleasing sound, similar to that one might imagine to proceed from a thousand Eolian harps; this ceased, and deep twanging notes succeeded; these gradually swelled into an uninterrupted stream of singular sounds, like the booming of a number of Chinese gongs under the water; to these sounds succeeded notes that had a faint resemblance to a wild chorus of a hundred human voices, singing out of tune in a deep bass; but to attempt to describe this submarine concert is vain, because no sound like it is to be found in art or nature."

Beating up from the Bocas, Gaspar Island is passed, where the Spanish Admiral, Apodaca, burnt and sunk his fleet to prevent its falling into the hands of the English at the capture of the island. The hulls of these vessels are said to be sometimes distinguished by the fishermen as their boats pass over the spot in smooth water, and the waters of the Gulf of Paria are often glassy smooth. Passing the five islands studded with the picturesque bathing lodges of the