Journey from Kalacoon to the Orinoco. 97 
but ‘an ordinary peasant, was I heard incidentaily on the quiet, a wealthy 
man. He said that if I had brought 500 men, he would have given me cattle 
to supply them with beef, but there was one condition he insisted on that 
I should permit him to have the first shot at Guzman Blanco. I could relate 
much of what I heard, and my own experience of what Isaw, but the former 
may be exaggerated; my stay in the country was of so short a duration 
that what little I saw may have been exceptional. There have been many 
changes in the Venezuelan Government since my visit, and I have no 
desire to relate circmstances that might give offence or disturb existing harmony, 
At the time of my stay the Government seemed to be a militaiy despotism 
and though there may have been a written and perfect law, the Executive for 
the time being was dominant. 
