98 Mr. Jones's Letters from Achaguas , in Venezuela. [Sept, i. 
little less in heat, is considerably more 
supportable. You have already my 
opinion of General Paez, whom during 
my stay I have visited and had many 
opportunities of seeing, as well as re¬ 
ceiving from him much attention and 
courtesy; he has strongly urged us to 
E roceed by water in preference to going 
y land, and we have agreed so to do, 
as we are informed we shall reach Cu- 
cuta in eighteen or twenty days. Dis¬ 
embarking at Tetio, and travelling the 
last few days by land, we shall pass 
through St. Christobal, which is only one 
day's distance from our journey’s end. 
The village of Achaguas is consider¬ 
able, in proportion to those by which it 
is surrounded, and from the circum¬ 
stance of the army being at present 
quartered in it; its chief inconvenience 
is that from the extreme dryness of the 
soil it is most inconceivably dusty, 
and is therefore very disagreeable to 
walk about in, while there is the least 
breeze stirring. 
In the fore part of the day we are 
obliged to keep the doors and windows 
quite closed to exclude this universal 
intruder. The houses with the excep¬ 
tion of one (the residence of the general) 
are all on the ground floor, but have a 
clean appearance from their being 
generally w r hite-washed. The officers 
and men find indifferent living here, 
as they have only beef for their rations, 
without bread, salt or rum; the men 
fare better than their officers, as they 
have opportunities of earning some¬ 
thing from the shop-keepers, and from 
strangers passing through to the king¬ 
dom. 
General Torres has been sent by 
Paez into new Granada, to obtain funds 
to alleviate the condition of the troop?, 
who with much anxiety look for his 
return in ten or twelve days. 
There are many lakes in this neigh¬ 
bourhood (occasioned by the rain in the 
winter season) which abound with 
■wild ducks, and the soldiers who can 
manage slily to possess themselves of 
a little ammunition, bring in consider¬ 
able numbers of them, w hich are sold 
at about a real (five pence) each. The 
great ant bear is a common animal 
here, aud attain iu some instances the 
size of an English sheep: they are 
amphibious, yet may be perfectly 
domesticated. The armadillo also are 
so very abundant in the plains that the 
Llaneros, if at a loss for food, kill and 
eat them in considerable numbers; 
they are occasionally offered for sale 
here at one or two reals each, alive and 
quite tame. Amongst the feathered 
tribe the solder-bird is the most con¬ 
spicuous, and is extremely common 
over all this part of the country. I 
have seen many of them as tall as my¬ 
self (viz. five feet ten inches) ; the Cre¬ 
oles eat part of them, and describe 
them as very tolerable food. Singing 
birds are by no means so common here 
as in England. The slumbers of the 
sun-burnt traveller are never disturbed 
by the song of the lark, nor his spirits 
soothed in the evening by the sweet 
wmrblingof the nightingale. Of common 
birds, the tropial is almost the only one 
that sings, but its notes, although in 
considerable estimation amongst the 
natives, does not appear to me equal to 
that of the English blackbird. The 
powie (or turkey) of this country is a 
very fine bird, and is met with fre¬ 
quently in the woods ; it is easily do¬ 
mesticated. 
In the neighbourhood of Angostura, 
as well.as in every other part of this 
country which I have yet visited, small 
doves are very numerous, and fre¬ 
quently afford to travellers and sports¬ 
men the materials for a repast. This 
place is called the Island of Achagu.es, 
from it being surrounded by three 
rivers during the winter season. 
SECOND LETTER, Dated, Cucuta , 4 tk 
April , 1821. 
After a voyage of eighteen days 
from Apurell, w e arrived w ithout acci¬ 
dent at Tetio, from whence we pro¬ 
ceeded in four days by land to Saint 
Christobal, and thence in one day to 
this place, wdiere we arrived on the 
19th of March (nearly four mouths 
from my departure from Angostura) a 
period sufficient to have made a voyage 
to the East Indies. An officer w r ho 
left Angostura a month before me did 
not reach here till ten days after me, 
Such are the difficulties of travelling 
in this country. 
I should have written to you before, 
but have been prevented by indisposi¬ 
tion, brought on I attribute wffiolly by 
the long and distressing journey I have 
lately gone through. I am now fast 
re-establishing, and hope to be quite 
myself again in a few days. In our 
passage up the Oribante w r e were enter¬ 
tained with the sight of many birds 
which would be thought curious in 
Europe, w'ere it possible to convey them 
there: the principal are the powie, 
guacharaca, aruca, arindajo, tropial, 
