22 Travels and Adventures 



European enterprise. Some two or three dozen 

 natives, out in small canoes, engaged in fishing, hove 

 near the ship as we were passing, in order to satisfy 

 their curiosity on our no doubt novel appearance. 

 Their boats were of the most primitive construction, 

 seeming almost too frail to put to sea in. The men 

 were of pure Indian race, a kind of dull brick colour, 

 fine stalwart fellows, who seemed to despise fashion so 

 much as almost to do without clothing altogether. 



After forty-eight hours' sail we arrived in sight 

 of the harbour of La Guayra, the principal port of 

 Venezuela, which presents from the sea a magnificent 

 panorama of scenery. A towering peak a mile and 

 a quarter high seems to pierce the clouds. The 

 almost perpendicular sides of the mountain bristle 

 with, large cacti, while around the foot the little town 

 of La Guayra, from the brightness of the walls and 

 tiling seen in the strong light of a tropical sun, 

 presents a pleasing contrast with the dark grey and 

 green of the mountain background. High up the 

 hillside a small fort breaks the wildness of the 

 situation, and, whatever may be its merits or defects 

 from a defensive point of view, it certainly adds 

 to the picturesqueness of the scene. A little lower 

 down a large circus-like building is easily distin- 

 guishable, which we afterwards learn is the bull- 

 fiohtino- arena — without which no South American 



