. The land of Bolivar; or, War, peace, and adventure in the Republic of Venezuela . r of Altagracia, who was very desu-ous ofsettlino- a band of colonists on his estate, and ^\dshedLeseur and me to co-operate in his plan. Notwith-standing the fertility of the soil and the delightfidclimate, the out-of-the-way situation, and the want ofcarriage road communication, will prove, for some timeto come, a bar to the success of the scheme. Westayed at Altagracia all night, and passed most of theevening very agreeably, listening to the Germansanecdotes of the tigers, pumas, and snakes, with whichthe su
. The land of Bolivar; or, War, peace, and adventure in the Republic of Venezuela . r of Altagracia, who was very desu-ous ofsettlino- a band of colonists on his estate, and ^\dshedLeseur and me to co-operate in his plan. Notwith-standing the fertility of the soil and the delightfidclimate, the out-of-the-way situation, and the want ofcarriage road communication, will prove, for some timeto come, a bar to the success of the scheme. Westayed at Altagracia all night, and passed most of theevening very agreeably, listening to the Germansanecdotes of the tigers, pumas, and snakes, with whichthe surroundino; hills are inhabited. About seven in the morning, after a nights sleepin hammocks, we left AltaoTacia for Tacata, and 256 THE LAND OF BOLIVAR. [Chap. xiv. reached it at midday, l)ut our animals refused to stop,and hurried us off to the mountain pass leading fromthe valley. There were four coffee estates in the vicinityof Tacata, producing in the aggregate 1140 quintales ;four others we found abandoned. There were twosugar estates—one producing and the other MUSICIANS PLAYING NATIVE INSTRUMENTS. Owino- to its situation on the most direct route fromthe valleys of Aragua to the Tuy valleys, Tacata hassuffered greatly from the raids of both sides. Fromthe heights of Tique, 3200 feet, we turned again togaze on the heautiful scene we were leaving ; and then Chap, xiv.] THE END OF THE JOURNEY. 257 looking forward we Ijehcld range after range of moun-tains, culminating in the Naiguata. We quartered at Paracoto, and filled up the eveningby exploring the neighbourhood. It is the centre ofa large cultivated district, and consists of a mono-tonous succession of fine coftee-growing slopes. Thevillage has a pretty little church, with its peal ofbells outside. In our rambles we came to a house,where we stopped to hear a band playing, the musicand instruments being native born. At night weslept soundly, although our dormitory was the mis-cellaneous store-room of a genera
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