Three Old Ports on the Spanish Main 631 



entirely changes when he lands, and not 

 until he is once more on board and the 

 vessel well in the offing can the noble 

 proportions of the "Silla" again be ap- 

 preciated. In my case, unfortunately, 

 my first view was my last. 



La Guaira, for all its fame, or rather 

 notoriety, is a city of but fourteen thou- 

 sand inhabitants, or about two-thirds the 

 size of Bangor, Maine ; but even this 

 seems an overestimate when one climbs 

 the hillside and looks down upon its 

 jumbled mass of dark-red roofs, with a 

 thin line running east and west along the 

 shore and a short spur following a cleft 

 in the otherwise impassable barrier be- 

 hind it. Prominent at the water front 

 are the market-place, the large custom- 

 house — practically the raison d'etre of 

 the city — the inevitable plaza, and the 

 new shore batteries, erected by President 

 Castro. 



Here, also, is the terminus of the La 

 Guaira and Caracas Railway, and jutting 

 out from the shore a distance of two 

 thousand feet or more is the famous 

 breakwater, which has done so much to 

 increase the traffic of the port, though 

 the passenger is apt to forget, when 

 charged to set foot upon it and denied 

 the alternative of hiring a boat, that this 

 formerly was one of the most disagree- 

 able roadsteads in the world. Anyway, 

 in a land of habitual "graft," why should 

 the stranger be spared on the day of his 

 arrival ? "Why, indeed !" echoes the col- 

 lector of customs, who incidentally is the 

 proprietor of the Hotel Neptuno, the 

 only decent hostelry in the place, as he 

 delays the inspection of luggage till the 

 Caracas train has departed and compla- 

 cently watches the passengers stream off 

 for breakfast — wherever they like to go, 

 of course ! 



La Guaira can boast of several 

 churches (one a rather imposing struc- 

 ture), a bull ring, a large theater, and a 

 diminutive fort, the latter perched high 

 above it, like the turret of a battleship, 

 and provided with the same armament as 

 the shore battery, viz, two Cruezot guns 

 of the latest type. To one side, but 



below this fort, stand the ruins of the 

 old governor's castle, where the "Rose 

 of Torridge" dwelt, and if the tourist be 

 so inclined he may seat himself upon a 

 crumbling wall, and, with the whole scene 

 before him and the sound of the surf in 

 his ears, may imagine he sees the brave 

 Devon lads fighting their way to the boat, 

 their best loved leader a prisoner, several 

 of their comrades dead, and the daring 

 venture of the Rose, so they think, an 

 utter failure. 



An American who recently came to La 

 Guaira and has experienced exception- 

 ally pleasant weather calls the coast here- 

 about the "Riviera of the Tropics," while 

 a well-known writer who delights in big 

 phrases styles Macuto the "Saratoga, the 

 Newport, and the Coney Island of Vene- 

 zuela, all in one." Both comparisons are 

 about as apt as is the term "Paris of 

 South America," applied to Caracas, a 

 comparison, to digress for a moment, 

 that unquestionably aided the floating of 

 a recent continental syndicate, which was 

 capitalized at several million francs and 

 proposed establishing a large gambling 

 casino in that city. The enterprise, of 

 course, came to grief, though the disap- 

 pointment of the projectors who reached 

 Caracas could hardly exceed that of the 

 American tourist who should travel to 

 La Guaira — hot, ill-smelling old town 

 that it is ! — expecting to find a new 

 Riviera. Nevertheless, La Guaira has 

 been dealt unjustly with, as well, even in 

 the matter of smells, which few tropical 

 towns are free from, not excepting the 

 much-governed city of Port-of-Spain ; 

 and while one can sympathize with the 

 former American consul, who in the ela- 

 tion of departure wrote : 



' Farewell, ye gloomy casas, 1 mejor dicho, 7 

 prison cells ; 



Ye narrow, crooked calles, 3 reeking with atro- 

 cious smells." 



and in another stanza : 



" Home of the wailing donkey and the all- 

 abounding flea, 



Mananaf gracias a Dios b I bid farewell to 

 thee ; ' ' 



it does seem as if the final lines, both 



