220 
MXSSIOHS OF ARENAS. 
so premature among tlie Chaymas, as is commonly believed 
in Europe. The government of these Indian parishes is 
very complicated; they have their governor, their major- 
alguazils, and their militia-commanders, all copper-coloured 
natives. The company of archers have their colours, and 
perform their exercise with the bow and arrow, in shooting 
at a mark ; this is the national guard (militia) of the country. 
This military establishment, under a purely monastic system, 
seemed to us very singular. 
On the night of the 5th of September, and the following 
morning, there was a thick fog ; yet we were not more than 
a hundred toises above the level of the sea. I determined 
geometrically, at the moment of our departure, the height 
of the great calcareous mountain which rises at 800 toises 
distance to the south of San Fernando, and forms a per- 
pendicular cliff on the north side. It is only 215 toises 
higher than the great square; but naked masses of rock, 
which here exhibit themselves in the midst of a thick vege- 
tation, give it a very majestic aspect. 
The road from San Fernando to Cumana passes amidst 
small plantations, through an open and humid valley. We 
forded a number of rivulets. In the shade the thermometer 
did not rise above 30° : but we were exposed to the direct rays 
of the sun, because the bamboos, which skirted the road, 
afforded but small shelter, and we suffered greatly from the 
heat. We passed through the village of Arenas, inhabited 
by Indians, of the same race as those at San Fernando. 
But Arenas is no longer a mission; and the natives, governed 
by a regular priest,* are better clothed, and more civilized. 
Their church is also distinguished in the country by some 
rude paintings which adorn its walls. A narrow border en- 
closes figures of armadilloes, caymans, jaguars, and other 
animals peculiar to the new world. 
In this village lives a labourer, Francisco Lozano, who 
presented a highly cui-ious physiological phenomenon. This 
man has suckled a child with his own milk. The mother 
having fallen sick, the father, to quiet the infant, took it into 
his bed, and pressed it to his bosom. Lozano, then thirty- 
two years of age, had never before remarked that he 
• The four villages of ArenaB, Macarupana, Mariguitar, and Arieagua, 
founded by Aragonese Capuchins, are called Doctrinas tie Encomienda. 
