62 TiMEHRl. 



place than the money-grubbing town we left behind us ? 

 At last there came a faint breeze and we slowly headed 

 towards our destination, sighting Pampotar at mid- 

 day ; in the meantime we all amused ourselves fishing 

 and shooting pelicans. The bay of Pampotar is beauti- 

 ful, the sea emerald green, and the sands white as snow. 

 A few shabby huts and the Resguardo front the sea, with a 

 large white two-storied house, formerly occupied by Dr. 

 Freeland — who lost money in exploiting phosphates, 

 but eventually cleared out with a large fortune acquired in 

 the exercise of his profession — within which is a collection 

 of red tiled daub and wattle stru6lures and an old Spanish 

 Fort. The only shade perceptible is a cocoanut tree 

 divested of leaves and a thorn tree on the beach ! The 

 soil generally is more like a bed of lava than arable 

 land; everything is scorched up ! It is necessary to ob- 

 serve however that this melancholy spot is not to be 

 taken into account as a seaport, it has given place to 

 other towns more favourably situated. 



On landing (Sunday) I was marched off to the Guard 

 House, bag and baggage, as a suspicious chara6ler, but on 

 showing the very polite official the cover of a letter to 

 General ORTEGA he forthwith produced a bottle of fine old 

 rum and cigarettes and slung me up a hammock. Whilst 

 awaiting animals to convey me to Porlamar I saw a 

 number of poor children suffering rather severely from 

 measles, and one woman with cancer of the breast which 

 was being treated by blistering, as the unfortunate woman 

 said, to dry it up or disperse it ! The ride (of about 5 

 miles) from Pampotar to Porlamar the chief sea port, 

 was interesting. After passing some sand dunes and 

 rocky hills, we crossed the Llanos or Plains (savannasj. 



