ENTEANCE INTO VALENCIA. 39 



crowds, and stopped at the posada of La Bella Alaza, on 

 the eastern side of the Gran Plaza. Immediately the 

 posadero, guests, porters, cooks, and a whole retinue of 

 attendants, came rushing out, and besieged us on every 

 side, so that with difficulty we forced an entrance to the 

 apartment we were to occupy. Our baggage was seized 

 by three times the number needed to carry it, and was 

 followed by as many more, who came thronging into our 

 room, which they so filled that we were scarcely able to 

 move. Their curiosity becoming somewhat satisfied when 

 they had seen and examined every thing it was possible to 

 get hold of, they gradually withdrew, until we were at 

 length left to ourselves. 



The city of Valencia is situated in the midst of a most 

 salubrious and fertile valley, which, including the basin of 

 Aragua upon the east, and the grassy plains stretching 

 out upon the west, is about twenty-five leagues in length 

 and five in its greatest breadth. It is difficult to conceive 

 why Caracas, which is farther from the geographical cen- 

 tre of the republic, and so difficult of access from the 

 coast, with only an open roadstead for a port, should have 

 been preferred as the capital of Venezuela to the more 

 accessible and in every respect more desirable place of 

 Valencia, which is only fourteen leagues, by a splendid 

 road, from one of the finest harbors in the world. Valen- 

 cia has been a favored city ; it has never been sacked by 

 an invading army, never thrown down by an earthquake. 

 It was even spared by the tyrant Lopez de Aguirre, whose 

 name spread such terror throughout the republic ; and the 

 wild Carib tribe, which came up in hordes from the Orinoco 

 to lay waste the place, were turned back before they had 

 crossed the borders of the plain. Contending parties in 

 the political convulsions of later times have also chosen 

 other places in which to shed each othei-'s blood. Not- 

 withstanding, Valencia has advanced but slowly in growth 



