Margarita. 6«; 



quack medicines, which do not add to the profes- 

 sional chara6ler of our leading chemists shops in 

 Port of Spain. The market is held more or less on the 

 beach, under the shade of some thorn trees ; carcases 

 hang on the branches, from which the butcher hacks at 

 random (joints are unknown) gorgeous king fish and 

 pague (red fish) none less than 8 or lo lbs. lie in heaps 

 and are sold for 15 or 20 cents each. The sea is 

 magnificent ; as at Pampotar, the anchorage is alive with 

 small coasting craft trading to Barcelona, Cumana, Caru- 

 pano, Trinidad, etc. In Pbrlamar good old-time hospi- 

 tality still reigns, and therefore there are no hotels, 

 although it boasts of a restaurant, billiard room, and soda 

 fa6lory (without ice). I was comfortably installed in the 

 house of Herr RoTTE a German, who like many of 

 his countrymen, has become a Venezuelan in speech and 

 manners, but is nevertheless betrayed by his honest 

 Saxon face and stalwart frame. Thanks to the generosity 

 of my host I started for Asuncion, the ancient capital 

 of the island, the next morning (Monday i6th) with a 

 good mount and the escort of his son. Riding out of the 

 town we passed a long line of buildings, shed built, 

 covered with the usual red tiles, one long roof sloping 

 from the street, mostly open at the back, thieves being 

 supposed only to come in at the front ; my escort informed 

 me the houses nearer the town were occupied by a 

 colony of fishermen, those more distant by agriculturists, 

 The country in the dire6lion we were now taking was 

 again quite South African ; plains interse6led with ridges 

 of mountains, some 4,000 feet in height, the general 

 aspe6l like Cariacou, but bright green here and there in 

 the valleys and on the cool mountain slopes. A remark. 



I 



