

COAST-DEFENCES. 46 



Tho military defence of the coasts of Terra Firma rests 

 on six points : the castle of San Antonio at Cumana ; 

 the Morro of Nueva Barcelona; the fortifications of La 

 Gruayra, (mounting one hundred and thirty-four guns) ; 

 Porto Cabello ; fort San Carlos, (at the mouth of the lake 

 jf Maracaybo) ; and Car thagena. Porto Cabello is, next to 

 Carthagena, the most rjiportant fortified place. The town 

 of Porto Cabello is quite modern, and the port is one of 

 the finest in the world. Art has had scarcely any- 

 thing to add to the advantages which the nature of the 

 spot presents. A neck of land stretches first towards the 

 north, and then towards the west. Its western extremity 

 is opposite to a range of islands connected by bridges, and 

 so close together that they might be taken for another neck 

 of land. These islands are all composed of a calcareous 

 breccia of extremely recent formation, and analagous to 

 that on the coast of Cumana, and near the castle of Araya. 

 It is a conglomerate, containing fragments of madrepores 

 and other corals cemented by a limestone basis and grains 

 of sand. We had already seen this conglomerate near the 

 Rio Guayguaza. By a singular disposition of the ground 

 the port resembles a basin or a little inland lake, the south- 

 ern extremity of which is filled with little islands covered 

 with mangroves. The opening of the port towards the west 

 contributes much to the smoothness of the water.* One 

 vessel only can enter at a time ; but the largest ships of the 

 line can anchor very near land to take in water. There is 

 no other danger in entering the harbour than the reefs of 

 Punta Brava, opposite which a battery of eight guns has 

 been erected. Towards the west and south-west we see the 

 fort, which is a regular pentagon with five bastions, the 

 battery of the reef, and the fortifications that surround the 

 ancient town, founded on an island of a trapezoidal form. 

 A bridge and the fortified gate of the Staccado join the old 

 to the new town; the latter is already larger than the 



It is disputed at Porto Cabello whether the port takes its name 

 from the tranquillity of its waters, " which would not move a hair 

 (cabello)," or (which is more probable) derived from Antonio Cabello, 

 one of the fishermen with whom the smugglers of Cura9oa had formed a 

 connexion at the period when the first haml*t was constructed on thifl 

 Iwlf-desert coast 



