348 SPANISH AMERICA. 



forces, by way of retaliation, placed the 

 royalist prisoners in front of their line. * 

 This horrid emulation in barbarity was again 

 kept up by the royalists' conducting four 

 of their prisoners, namely, Pellin, Osorio, 

 Pointet, and Manuel Pulido, in front of the 

 patriot encampment, in order to put them 

 to death, by shooting them. 



The siege, however, of Puerto Cabello 

 was continued both by sea and land, by 

 Bolivar, who confided the command of the 

 besiegers to D'Eluyar. The patriots soon 

 obtained possession of the greater part of 

 the town, but the fort or citadel still held 

 out; and though the garrison were in want 

 of provisions, and the soldiers very sickly, 

 the royalist officers refused all terms of ca- 

 pitulation. Bolivar, deterred from attempt- 

 ing to storm it, by the immense loss of men 

 which must have been the result, contented 

 himself with merely investing the fortress. 



