LEAVES FROM A LOG. 39 



rafters, light palm posts and thatched roof, would bend like an ozier 

 cage, and regain its original form without damage. 



It was evening, and the negroes had done the light day's task of a 

 cocoa estate some four hours before my arrival; they were em- 

 ployed either cultivating little gardens of their own near their cot- 

 tages, feeding stock, or enjoying the coolness of the evening by 

 laying on the ground ; some were making ropes of the fibrous parts 

 of the maho-tree, and others manufacturing or repairing turtle nets 

 A group of fat lively children, with skins as smooth as ivory, and as 

 black as ebony, ran up to me and followed my horse, vociferating 

 " Buenos Dios, Senor." The whole of the slave population of this 

 plantation looked in good condition, contented and happy. 



As I proceeded to the house, I saw two negroes and a peon making 

 a kind of basket for catching fish ; they had just returned from town 

 with Sefior Josef, and were singing a canoe song, very common 

 amongst the Spanish boatmen of the Gulf of Paria, the chorus of 

 which was " Sopla, Sopla, Sopla, San Antonio," a favourite saint to 

 invoke when a wind is required, though sometimes so unseasonably 

 deaf is the saint to their entreaties that I have heard him cursed 

 heartily by Spanish mariners. 



" Is your master at home ?" said I, to a boy who held my horse as 

 I dismounted. 



" Yes Sir, he has just returned from town." 



I entered the imfloored hall, and saw Don Josef swinging in a 

 chinchura (a net-woven hammock), and smoking a cigar. He rose 

 to welcome me with that unostentatious politeness for which the Spa- 

 niard is remarkable, " I think his age some fifty, or by'r lady, in- 

 clining to three score ;" yet time, though it had whitened his hair, 

 had not quenched the fire of his Castilian eye ; he was middle-sized, 

 and, for an European, of a dark complexion ; he wore trowsers and 

 jacket of coarse sheeting, a lace-frilled shirt, gold sleeve and collar 

 buttons ; the buckles of his braces were of the same metal, which 

 were conspicuous, as he wore no waistcoat. The Don was a native 

 of Segovia, and could boast that he was an " old Christian/' and an 

 hidalgo of untainted blood ; he left his native city young, and came 

 to the New World ; where, recommended by his rank, and handsome 

 appearance, he married a young widow, with a princely estate in the 

 neighbourhood of Caraccas. She gave birth to a son. and died. On 

 the breaking out of the revolution on the main, patriotism induced 

 the son to join the ranks of the insurgents, and the same sentiment 

 induced the father to fight on the side of the royalists ; both acted 

 bravely, and the result of the war was to both equally unfortunate. 

 At the success of the republicans, the fine estate of Don Josef was 

 completely ruined, and five hundred of his slaves were made soldiers 

 of Bolivar and Piaz ; these were destroyed during the various cam- 

 paigns, except a few, who lived to join the robber Castillos. The 

 son gained many wounds, and the grant of an immense tract of land, 

 which, in consequence of the ravages of war, is useless. He cannot 

 sell it, nor has he the means of cultivating an acre ; he has, likewise, 

 a claim on the state for 10,000 dollars, which the republican 

 government has admitted, but cannot or will not liquidate. He has 



