411 



bridge* Real fortifications crown the summit 

 of the mountain. We saw at Venta the ther- 

 mometer at noon at 19*3°, when at La Guayra 

 it kept up at the same hour to 26*2°. Since 

 the period when neutrals have been from time 

 to time admitted into the ports of the Spanish 

 colonies, strangers having been more easily per- 

 mitted to ascend to Caraccas than to Mexico, 

 La Venta already enjoys some celebrity in Eu- 

 rope and in the United States, for the beauty 

 of it's scenery. This spot does indeed, when 

 the clouds permit, present a magnificent view of 

 the sea, and the neighbouring coasts. You dis- 

 cover an horizon of more than twenty-two lea- 

 gues radius ; the white and barren shore re- 

 flects a dazzling mass of light ; you see at your 

 feet Cape Blanco, the village of Maiquetia with 

 it's cocoa-trees, La Guayra, and vessels that 

 enter the port. But I found this view far more 

 extraordinary, when the sky was not serene, 

 and trains of clouds, strongly illumined on their 

 upper surface, seemed projected like floating 

 islands on the surface of the ocean. Strata of 

 vapour, hovering at different heights, formed 

 intermediary spaces between the eye and the 

 lower regions. From an illusion easily explain- 

 ed, they enlarged the scene, and rendered it 

 more solemn. Trees and dwellings discovered 

 themselves from time to time through the open- 

 ings, which were left by the clouds driven on 



