of an Orchid Hunter 



25 



CHAPTER III. 



THE LA GUAYRA AND CARACAS RAILWAY TUNNELS 



BRIDGES APPEARANCE OF THE CITY BUILDINGS 



CATTLE YA MOSSLH - — LIFE ASSURANCE F 1 N E 



SCENERY PUERTO CABELLO PUBLIC GARDENS 



RAILWAY TO VALENCIA SENTINELS IN THE STATE 



PRISON EN ROUTE FOR CURACOA — MARINE POLITE- 

 NESS OMNIBUS BOATS — THE LANGUAGE. 



We were delighted to learn that the latest novelty 

 here is a railway from La Guayra to Caracas, the 

 principal town of Venezuela. We gladly took tickets 

 to the far end, pleased to escape from the heat and at 

 the same time to see the country. If a tunnel could 

 be drilled through the mighty mountain, the distance 

 from the port to Caracas would be five miles ; but the 

 railway is twenty-seven miles in length, winding about 

 amongst the mountain-passes in the most fantastic zig- 

 zag crotchets, gaining in the twenty-seven miles an 

 altitude of over a mile. The train is made up of the 

 engine, one first and two second-class carriages, mere 

 frames, to catch as much as possible of the sultry 



