HOUSES. 13 



coast. Inside the court-yard, along the upper story, 

 where such exists, runs an open gallery, while a corre- 

 sponding veranda generally extends outside, along the 

 front of the building. The roofs are tiled, and project far 

 over the walls of the houses, shading the narrow streets, 

 and afibrding protection to the pedestrian from the sun 

 and rains. The windows, unglazed, and covered with an 

 iron grating, protrude into the street, giving the house a 

 gloomy, prison-like aspect. The only way of ingress and 

 egress, the one used alike by man and beast, is through a 

 large archway, Avhich leads into the court-yard. The 

 massive folding-doors, with their clumsy iron hinges, 

 bolts, and fastenings, seem as if made for a fortress. The 

 house internally is as scantily and antiquely furnished as 

 the exterior indicates. The parlor of the Venezuelian 

 boasts no carpet upon its brick floor; the walls are 

 scantily ornamented with a few small pictures; one or 

 two cane-bottomed sofas, some plain chairs, and still 

 plainer tables, complete the furniture, useful and ornamen- 

 tal. The house has no chimney, the smoke and steam 

 finding their exit from beneath the raised roof. 



On the east side of the Grand Plaza, or great square 

 of the city, stands the new cathedral, the largest and 

 finest architectural structure in Caracas. It was founded 

 nearly three centuries ago, but has since been modernized, 

 being completed and consecrated during our visit at the 

 capital. It is two hundred and fifty-feet in length, by one 

 hundred and fifty in breadth, and is supported by two 

 lines of gigantic columns. The floor is a marble mosaic, 

 while the walls are hung with tablets bearing Latin in- 

 scrijjtions, and with paintings illustrative of Scriptural 

 history, or of Roman Catholic mythology. This struct- 

 ure, although the pride of Caraquenians, will compare 

 but unfavorably with similar ecclesiastical efibrts in coun- 

 tries where civilization has made greater progress; but 



