1832. TOWN OF DEL CARMEN. 299 



governor"'s house, lodgings for the officers, and public stores. 

 This fort commands the neighbourhood, as well as the houses 

 (or cottages) surrounding it ; and of the hundred buildings 

 which compose the town of Carmen, exclusive of about thirty 

 huts on the south bank of the river, the fort is the oldest. 

 It was built about 1763. Some houses, forty years old, are as 

 fresh in outward appearance, as if built only a few years ago. 

 In a population of 1,400, there are about 500 negroes. Alto- 

 gether there may be in the town about two thousand inhabi- 

 tants, but many of the poorer famiUes and negroes live in 

 caves, which were dug out of cliffs on the river's bank by the 

 first Spanish settlers. It is said that they served the Spaniards 

 as a secure refuge from the Indians, who could only approach 

 them by one path, easily secured. These caves, dug out of 

 earthy clay, are not despicable dwellings, while there is a fire 

 in them to expel damp. 



About a league from the entrance of the river are the ruins 

 of a large house, which was the " Estancia del Rey." In 

 former days 100,000 head of cattle were attached to that esta- 

 blishment, now there is not even a calf. 



Some of the first settlers were living at Carmen in 1833, 

 staunch royalists, every one looking back with regret to former 

 times. One of them belonged to the crew of the Spanish launch 

 that first entered the river. He said, that the Indians were then 

 living in detached tribes along both banks of the river, and were 

 very friendly to the Spaniards. This same old man afterwards 

 made one of the exploring party, under Villarino, in 1786, 

 when the natives were not only inoffensive, but gave them 

 assistance. How different from the present day ! when if a 

 Christian is seen by the natives, he is immediately hunted, and 

 his safety depends upon the fleetness of his horse. It has 

 sometimes happened, that persons riding along near this river, 

 have been surprized by a marauding party of Indians, and 

 obliged, as their only resource, to leap off the banks (barran- 

 cas), whether high or low, and swim across to the other side. 

 The Indians have never followed ; hence this, though requiring 

 resolution, is a sure mode of escape. 



