1824.] 
the pious duties of a wife would do her 
more honour in the next world, than 
mortification would in this, She burst 
into a fit of laughter, and told me that 
the English always endeavoured to lead 
poor women astray,—and that the so/da- 
dos sangras, who remainediafter White- 
locke, played the devil in the country. 
Having remarked‘‘a little coral cross 
which I wore, she said I was a Christian. 
“ Yes,’ I said; and wished to makeher a 
present of it; but she received it reluc- 
tantly. I now took my leave of my kind 
host, and wanted to force two dollars on 
him ; but he refused, adding that Leona 
would be very angry, after receiving my 
handsome present. But judge of my 
surprise at seeing a small wicker-basket, 
crammed with three days’ cooked pro- 
visions, sent off to the boat by Leona’s 
orders. I now shook hands with this 
good-natured nun: shewing her a ring, 
I told her jocosely I meant that should 
bind us. She smiled, and looking up, 
said her husband was in heaven; but 
should she marry on earth, she would 
choose me; at the same time, giving me 
one of those tippets, she requested I 
would let no person see it until I ar- 
rived in Europe, when I should some- 
times think on her. 
The sun shone in full splendour 
over the lake, adding beauty and dig- 
nity to rocks, trees, and precipices that 
overlooked it, and were reflected in 
the crystal waters. On the right, 
the country appeared more open, with 
very ‘little cultivation. Although the 
bottom appeared thirteen or fourteen 
fathoms in depth, a'person would sup- 
pose it within a fathom, and that its in- 
numerable finny inhabitants of every hue 
were within grasp, such was the clearness 
and transparency of the gravelly bot- 
tom, impregnated with gold and other 
minerals, with a quantity of crystalline 
gravel and shells. About three leagues 
distant we betook ourselves to © our 
mules, which had made a circuit of the 
lake in order to join us, and proceeded 
up the country by the river Chama, that 
rolled beneath the rugged and painful 
track we had ascended, with great velo- 
city and astounding murmurs, along a 
bed of rocks, sometimes forming a 
smooth sheet of water, at other times, 
an irregular cascade. After a painful 
journey we arrived at a bleak emi- 
nence or table-land, on which was built 
asmall hut, where we halted. But judge 
of our astonishment at finding here the 
wretched habitation: of an English de- 
serter, in the last stage of a consump- 
Journal of a Columbian Officer. 
317 
tion; he had undergone a severe castiga- 
tion by order of Morales, for refusing 
to fight against the British legion at 
Boyaca: he was tied up, and got four 
hundred lashes on the soles of his feet 
with a peterculo, added to the mal- 
ditas or ulcers, caused by. the mus- 
quitoes in prison, of the most painful 
description, discharging a fetid ichor. 
He informed me, that. being disgusted 
with Whitelocke’s treachery, he, with a 
number of others, deserted from Monte 
Video, allured by the promises of the 
treacherous Spaniards; that after living 
a debauched life, most of them died un- 
pitied; that disgusted with this sort of 
life, he took up with a native woman, 
who remained constant to him eyen to 
that moment, and aided his escape from 
the dungeon of Maracaibo. He regretted 
that he had ever left his brave regiment, 
and placed confidence in the faithless 
Spaniards. Having recommended him to 
the care of Dr. Murphy, the surgeon- 
general at Valentia, whose countryman 
he was, we continued our route to 
Merida, along a beautiful and_pictu- 
resque country, abounding in haciendas, 
or plantations of sugar: here the vine 
and ~olive are cultivated. Merida ap- 
peared in view, situated in the most 
fertile spot in the world, with an 
equality of climate seldom known, only 
from forty-four to sixty-four degrees. 
Here a man can choose his own tem- 
perature, as,he may live in the valley 
in sixty-four degrees in the shade, and 
walk in two hours to where the ther- 
mometer will get down to forty, or even 
lower, as he ascends the lofty Paramo ; 
or he may live mid-ways, and have. his 
haciendas in the valley; he may com- 
bine, too, interest with all those ad- 
vantages, as the haciendas yield in- 
credible crops of wheat, pease, pulse, 
beans, potatoes, Indian corn, even 
indigo, cotton; and, in a word, the 
products of India, as well as Europe, 
may be the property of one man on the 
same estate. 
The town of Merida is the second 
largest in the province of Venezuela, 
but, like its rival the Carraccas, has 
suffered by the earthquakes. Two- 
thirds of the buildings are in ruins, 
and some very fine houses are uninha- 
bited, although tastefully ornamented 
with gilded pillars and handsome ve- 
randas ; also green-houses and kitchen 
gardens. This town exhibits more of 
European taste than any in South 
America, and is better adapted for an 
European settlement than any gine 
rom 
