209 



basin or little lake, which forms the harbour of 

 Porto-Cabello, turns behind this suburb to the 

 South-West. It is a marshy ground, filled with 

 noisome and stagnant water. The town, which 

 has at present nearly nine thousand inhabitants, 

 owes it's origin to an illicit commerce, attracted 

 to these shores by the proximity of the town of 

 Burburata, which was founded in 1549. It is 

 only under the administration of the Biscayans, 

 and of the company of Guipuzcoa, that Porto- 

 Cabello, which was but a hamlet, has been con- 

 verted into a well fortified town. The vessels 

 of La Guayra, which is less a port than a bad 

 open roadstead, come to Porto-Cabello to be 

 caulked and repaired. 



The real defence of the harbour consists in 

 the low batteries of the neck of land at Punt a 

 Brava, and of the reef : but from ignorance of 

 this principle, a new fort, the Belvidere (Mira- 

 dor) of Solano * has been constructed at a great 

 expense, on the mountains that command the 

 suburb toward the South. This work, a quar- 

 ter of a league distant from the harbour, is 

 raised four or five hundred feet above the sur- 

 face of the water. The construction has cost 

 annually, during a great number of years, from 



* The Mirador is placed to the East of the Vigia alta, and 

 to the South-East of the battery of the salt-works, and the 

 powder-mill. 



VOL. IV. |» 



