460 SPANISH AMERICA. 



in a very short time — when he should be 

 enabled to pay for arms, ammunition, and 

 ships, of which he was in extreme want, 

 and for which he desired him, if possible, 

 to contract; as also to send out volunteers, 

 if he should find the cause popular in Eng- 

 land, as he expected to be placed in a si- 

 tuation to provide for all with the taking of 

 Angostura. This intimation I believe to 

 have been the first inducement to Mendez 

 to offer commissions in the Venezuelan ser- 

 vice to such adventurers as could satisfac- 

 torily prove that they had held equal rank 

 in any other service, except that of Spain. 



How this agent was imposed upon by 

 many, is not my province to state, nor to 

 relate how all parties were deceived, or ra- 

 ther undeceived, and consequently disap- 

 pointed on their arrival in this land of 

 promise, where they found Bolivar had 

 lost at the battle of Samen almost every 

 thing but his life, and his unconquerable 



