Three Old Ports on the Spanish Main 629 



A Maracaibo : ' Caballero ' : 



Kingsley of the good ship Rose, as she 

 skirted the coast between Cape Codera 

 and La Guaira, "beneath the mighty 

 northern wall, the highest cliff on earth, 

 some seven thousand feet of rock parted 

 from the sea by a narrow strip of bright, 

 green lowland. Here and there a patch 

 of sugar-cane or a knot of cocoanut 

 trees, close to the water's edge, reminded 

 them that they were in the tropics ; but 

 above, all was savage, rough and bare as 

 an Alpine precipice. Sometimes deep 

 clefts allowed the southern sun to pour 

 a blaze of light down to the sea marge, 

 and gave glimpses far above of strange 

 and stately trees lining the glens, and of 

 a veil of perpetual mist which shrouded 

 the inner summits, while up and down, 

 between them and the mountain side, 

 white, fleecy clouds hung motionless in 

 the burning air, increasing the impres- 

 sion of vastness and of solemn rest, 

 which was already overpowering." 



And so, indeed, as Kingsley so vividly 

 pictures them, do these mighty cliffs ap- 

 pear ; and one learns with regret that the 

 talented novelist should never have be- 

 held their awful grandeur, he who alone, 

 perhaps, has done justice to the scene. 

 Inaccuracies, to be sure, have crept into 

 the description, and as the steamer ap- 

 proaches from the north the traveler may 

 fail, through a misjudgment of distance, 

 to appreciate the magnitude of the 

 greenish-brown mass before him ; but 

 presently he spies something to measure 

 with, a cluster of buildings, a little toy 

 city, which he is told is La Guaira, while 

 apparently but a stone's throw away lies 

 Macuto, the well-known watering place. 

 Then, perhaps, though almost too late — 

 for the Red D line has a schedule to 

 maintain — does the full impressiveness of 

 the scene burst upon his awakened 

 senses ; and if there yet be time, let him 

 gaze intently before him, for the view 



