302 AVES ISLAND. 



not be witlidrawn, tlie Americans asked that it might be laid down 

 in writing, in the event of their falling in with some Venezuelan ves- 

 sels, to which they would have to account for the guano on board. It 

 was accordingly given to them in that form, and the document, which 

 they signed, was written in one of their huts, and on paper and with 

 pen and ink which they themselves supplied, Mr. Lang acting as in- 

 terpreter, and with such familiarity with the Spanish language that 

 he corrected a few trifling mistakes which appeared in the instrument. 

 In the act of their subscribing it, there was not a single government 

 soldier on shore ; and besides this, they asked that the officer who was 

 to remain on the island in command of the garrison, should not pre- 

 vent said vessels to continue taking in their cargo. 



So voluntary on their part was the act of signing that they mentioned 

 the names of the houses to which they belonged, which it would not 

 otherwise have been possible to express in the document. They not 

 only returned thanks to Colonel Dias, but they also forced upon him 

 various presents, some of which he carried to Laguayra. Besides this, 

 they afforded assistance to the garrison, and put their artillery and 

 armament at the disposal of the officers and under the flag of Vene- 

 zuela. Colonel Dias shortly after went away from the island, leaving 

 upon it ten men only, under the orders of First Lieutenant Nicholas 

 Pereira, with no more arms than a musket apiece for the soldiers, a 

 few bundles of cartridges, and the small cannon, with twenty-five 

 charges, for the landing of which, and of the water and provisions, the 

 Americans sent out their launches, instead of opposing such landing, 

 when they might have done so in view of their superior force. 



Another Venezuelan armed schooner arrived at Aves Island on the 

 21st of December. It there found three brigs and two square-rigged 

 vessels taking in guano, although the permit given by Colonel Dias 

 did not go beyond allowing them to take in the complement of the 

 cargoes of the three vessels which he had met on the 13th of December, 

 and this under condition that the permission should be approved by 

 the government of Venezuela. He landed fifteen men, whom he had 

 under his orders, and proceeded to Santomas to put in fresh water. 

 On the 24th of December, 1855, an armed British brig bore up for 

 Aves Island, and stood off whilst the captain went ashore, and expressed 

 his astonishment at meeting with Venezuelan troops there, because the 

 island had been purchased from the Spaniards by his government. 

 This was his language, and not that ascribed to him by J. James 

 Wheeler, to the effect that the Americans had a right to hold the island 

 in the name of the United States. The Venezuelan war schooner re- 

 turned from Santomas on the 29th of December ; and, as it became 

 known that the Americans were misapplying the permission granted 

 to them by Colonel Dias, and which was confined to completing the 

 loading of certain vessels, subject to the approbation of the government, 

 which was withheld, they were notified on the 30th to quit the island. 

 The Americans did leave it without any demurrer, departing with their 

 vessels in the evening of the 30th^ and leaving no guano collected, for 

 they had stowed it aboard in proportion as it was dug out. 



The result of this is : 1st. That the Americans acknowledged that 

 they had no right to be on the island. 2d. That they recognized the 



