42 Travels and Adventures 



taking up the entire space from the floor to the 

 top of the house ; not being encumbered with any 

 furniture, so as to leave them as airy as possible, 

 and render the heat somewhat tolerable. The bed- 

 steads are about the only things which detract 

 from the fearfully bare and comfortless appearance 

 of the place, and these bedsteads might be mistaken 

 by a careless observer for monster meat-safes, being 

 such a curious combination of gauze and laths, the 

 practical use of which only becomes apparent at 

 night as a protection against the myriads of hungry 

 mosquitoes which swarm the place. 



Early next morning, being Sunday, I went for a 

 stroll to get a look at the town. I found it large, 

 apparently of about some thirty thousand inhabitants, 

 admirably situated on the bank of a natural canal at 

 the outlet of the Magdalena, and so calculated to re- 

 ceive the whole of the product of the enormous tract 

 of country drained by this magnificent stream. But, 

 apart from its excellent position for export and import 

 trade of every kind, there is very little to recommend 

 Barranquilla as a residence for Europeans. The heat 

 is oppressive, and the streets are filled with a kind of 

 white sand which, on the least breath of wind, rises into 

 the air in blinding clouds. The houses in the suburbs 

 of the town are somewhat tumble-down and unsightly, 

 mostly thatched, but the profusion of beautiful plants 



