A WOMAN'S EXPERIENCES IN VENEZUELA. 91 



wild melody which they chanted through that wonderful night, 

 to listen and obey. It was a difficult and dangerous task - 

 the guiding of that sloop down so narrow and winding a river : 

 and even the unruly crew were obedient that night, rendering 

 the homage which in time of danger the ignorant uncon- 

 sciously yield to a superior intelligence. 



When we wondered at the Captain's confidence, he replied 

 in his deep voice, " Ah yes! but I am old here and I know 

 these canos as I do my house." And indeed here the curtain 

 had risen upon his life and here it was likely to fall at the 

 end of the last act. 



When finally quite exhausted we had laid down upon the 

 deck to sleep, it was to fall into so profound a slumber that 

 the mosquitoes devoured us unmolested, in spite of our head 

 nets which proved insufficient protection. 



So it was that on that first night at Guanoco we were very 

 tired. I sat lazily rocking in the cool evening breeze, 

 annointing my irritating bites with Tango, a preparation 

 dependent upon faith cure for its healing properties and 

 listening to the desultory talk of the young men. The con- 

 versation was desultory, however, only so long as the Venezue- 

 lan element of the household was present. On this occasion 

 that element was represented by the young Mr. Lugo who 

 had met us at the % wharf. After he had gone out on some 

 errand the story of Pitch Lake was poured into our inter- 

 ested ears. It was a story of intrigue and revolution and 

 treason quite worthy of some mediaeval court. First there 

 was the passive Venezuelan possession; then the active, en- 

 terprising, money-making reign of the North American; hav- 

 ing as its natural result the jealousy of Castro, his oppres- 

 sion and injustice to the American Company; their rebellion, 

 in which they aided a great revolution against Castro; his 

 revenge being to seize the property and put it in charge of 

 Venezuelans. Then came the departure of the American 



