A WOMAN'S EXPERIENCES IN VENEZUELA. JJ 



The tally of the crew must begin with Filo, the mate, a 

 huge black creole, speaking Spanish besides his own strange 

 vernacular; then there were two sailors from the Island of 

 Alargarita, and Antonio, cook by profession, admitting some 

 Dutch blood, but of unknown extraction and decidedly un- 

 certain disposition. The cook on board a Venezuelan craft 

 is always given the respectful title of Maestro (Mai's/ro), so 

 Maestro he always was to us. Maestro as an individual was 

 an interesting psychological study. Although he probably 

 never heard of such a thing as a labor union, yet he was the 

 embodied spirit of one. He declared, in terms that left no 

 possibility of misunderstanding, that he was cook, not sailor, 

 and that he would do nothing but cook. He would cook 

 cheerfully over a stove that smoked like Dante's Inferno, 

 but when called upon in an emergency to help hoist a sail, 

 he would fly into a violent torrent of angry Spanish. Later 

 when the temper had spent itself he would often go and do 

 what was asked of him. I have seen many high tempers, 

 but never one that cjuite equalled Maestro's. There were 

 times when he would draw his huge cutlass or machete on the 

 Captain. For a long time these were all false alarms, but at 

 last Maestro threatened once too often and so seriously that 

 he was discharged on the spot, and left marooned in a little 

 Indian village with no means of returning to Trinidad. But 

 this was at the end of our voyage. 



Maestro in his patched and faded shirt, with sleeves rolled 

 to the elbow, still more patched trousers rolled to the knee, 

 bare as to feet, a crownless hat on one side of his head, an 

 ancient and odoriferous pipe hanging from his mouth, a big 

 machete at his side, in the capacity of cook would make the 

 most shiftless housekeeper gasp with horror. I often won- 

 dered why he so persistently declared himself cocinero, not 

 mai'inerOjior he could hardly have been a greater failure in any 

 calling than he was in that of chef. Among the most valued 



