28 



NARRATIVE OF A 



natives : it was a difficulty of frequent occurrence in the 

 sequel. 



Having taken leave of the Commandant for that day, I 

 rambled about the town, which I was the more curious to 

 view, as being the first I had arrived at in the country. 

 The principal street — and strictly speaking, the only one, 

 for the others scarcely deserve the name — extends from one 

 end of the town to the other, and is paved. The houses 

 for the most part are but one story high, and their som- 

 bre, dilapidated appearance, together with the grass- 

 grown pavement, impart to the place a melancholy air of 

 abandonment. It has at the same time something roman- 

 tic in its situation, being enclosed by mountains, and em- 

 bosomed in an exuberant vegetation, which the efforts of 

 man seem to have been unable to cheek. There is 

 scarcely any open ground in the vicinity, except here and 

 there a cultivated spot, where the plantain, the yucca, and a 

 little corn, are raised for individual consumption. As the 

 woods afford a rich pasture, the cattle are good, and milk 

 is abundant ; and as the soil, by its fertility, liberally re- 

 pays the little labour bestowed on it, the very moderate 

 wants of the inhabitants are easily supplied. 



In walking the streets I was stared at by both sexes, 

 who would whisper, and point at me, as I passed. The 

 arrival of a stranger seemed to be an event, a little epoch 

 in the annals of Truxillo. I observed some pretty 

 faces and graceful figures among the females, but I am 

 not sure that I saw a real white complexion ; for such 

 as were not Indians, or mulattoes. were so tanned by the 

 sun, as to make it difficult to distinguish them from the 

 others. Both sexes wore nothing but linen or cotton, 

 and could not be more lightly clad, especially the 

 women, who, from a sense of propriety, would throw a 

 kerchief round their necks as I approached. 



On my way back to the beach, I called at the house of 

 a merchant for whom I had brought a letter of introduc- 

 tion. In the course of my visit, my eye was struck with 



