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112 



AGUA FRIA. 



terms, indeed 1 felt as much at home at Agua 

 Fria as at Itamaraca. The spot was in the 

 rudest state when he took possession of it ; but 

 although the soil was not propitious, the sitio 

 (settlement) was advancing ; he had built a good 

 house, and was erecting out-houses, making 

 fences, and planting useful and ornamental trees. 

 The place had been infested by red ants, but 

 with much labour they had been destroyed, by 

 digging into the ground for the nests. Behind 

 the house there was a lake of considerable ex- 

 tent, which had been formed by the course of a 

 rivulet having been stopped through the accu- 

 mulation of loose white sand in the part which 

 is now the road; so that the road is higher than 

 the lake on one side, and the land along which 

 the river formerly ran on the other side. When 

 the waters rise in the winter the lake overflows 

 and runs across the road, but during the greatest 

 part of the year the road is dry, or nearly so. 

 If the lake was drained, the settlement of Agua 

 Fria would be worth ten times its present value, 

 for the boundaries of it are the channel of the 

 rivulet. This lake is covered over with reeds, 

 rushes, and coarse grass, and the roots of these 

 plants have formed a thick coating over the 

 water, which would not support the weight of 

 a man, but much labour is required to cut 

 through it. 



