2 
D0TTINGS ON THE ROADSIDE. [Chap. I.—B. S. 
upset the Government, give the city up to pillage, 
kill all the white men they could, and distribute 
the prettiest of the white women amongst their 
ugly ringleaders, was about to he carried out. 
Though the noise increased every moment, a Chi¬ 
lian merchant, with whom I had to share a room 
in the overcrowded Aspinwall Hotel, slept so soundly 
that I was compelled to shake him rudely in order to 
awaken him. He stared when told that he might 
have his throat cut before he was aware of it! The 
Calle Eeal was full of soldiers, and on the balco¬ 
nies of the different houses were groups of frightened 
people, awaiting, arms in hand, the attacks of the 
negro mob. Fortunately for all concerned, General 
Olarte, commanding the garrison of this place, mostly 
pure Indians, was equal to the emergency, and spared 
us the horrors which u our black brothers ” had in 
store for us. 
It appears that, if the revolt had been successful, a 
Yenezuelan General, Lavel de Goda, who was a fre¬ 
quent visitor at Aspinwall Hotel, and attracted the 
attention of every one by his distinguished appearance 
and tasteful toilet, was to have been the President 
of this State of the Eepublic. The negro party had also 
endeavoured to bribe one of Olarte’s officers to admit 
them into the principal barrack of the town, and supply 
them with arms and ammunition. The officer, feigning 
compliance, admitted about 100 negroes and some of 
their leaders, and then suddenly closed the trap. At 
this moment General Olarte arrived with more soldiers, 
and a few rounds of shot dispersed the rabble, eleven 
