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CHAPTER XII.

MATURIN.

THE alijos landed at the embarcadero, which is the property of old Mrs Valliviun, a black lady much respected by the townspeople. Like her son, she is very tall and not corpulent, but of good proportions. She received us very kindly, and sent out an Indian woman to inquire where we might procure lodgings, until we had provided ourselves with a house. We obtained quarters with a family, the head of which was a discharged guarda, of pure Spanish descent, and named José Basilio.

Our stay in that house was not longer than two weeks' duration; for, besides our wishing to be more settled, our host seemed to have misunderstood the terms of our contract. His cats and dogs, and the cats and dogs of his neighbours, if I could believe him, were responsible for the

nightly plunder of our provisions.

The only

retaliation from our side of the house was in the following manner :-I had admired and bought a young Venezuelan fox, a beautiful creature with soft, full, grey hair, a perfect tail, and with bright eyes and a saucy-looking face. It was fierce for its size, and seemed, especially when chickens were in view, quite intractable. Now José Basilio prided himself on his breed of game fowls ; and I often had trouble to drive them off when my pet was at his meals. One day I was not perhaps sufficiently alert, young master reynard appearing to be in a doze, when he cleverly snatched up a young cock. Before I could decide on depriving him of his prey, he commenced to pluck the little cock so masterly, that admiration for the manner mastered my disapprobation of the act, and I thereby made myself aider and abetter in reynard's wrongdoing.

The house we took was in a principal street, that is one leading from La Plaza or parade ground to one of the country roads. It was

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covered with tejas or tiles made in a neighbouring tejaria which was the property of an Italian physician. The floor was of square flat tiles. The house was in front of a large yard which contained fruit-trees and offices, and was enclosed by a stuccoed wall.

Maturin, like most Spanish towns, is regularly laid out in squares. Most of the houses were covered with home-made tiles; the others were thatched. The church was a disgrace to the town. It was a large barn-like building, covered with thatch. Its one bell hung from a skeleton frame; the boys ascended by a common ladder, and their strokes were not an unpleasant substitute for the changes of a peal of bells. It was in contemplation to erect a new church more worthy of the purpose of the building.

The population of the city proper was about 10,000, and with its environs about 20,000. These consisted of natives of pure Spanish descent, Chaima Indians, a small proportion of Negroes, Europeans (especially Scotch), Italian, and French, with the consequent mixed population which

formed the great majority. Not one European Spaniard did I observe in the place.

The inhabitants on the northern side of the city get water from the river in the dry season ; but during the heavy rainy weather, when the water is muddy, the whole town is supplied from a brook on the southern side. This watering-place is called the Aguada or Agua'a. It is a little tedious to descend the hill and to climb up. From four o'clock in the morning till night time, women and children carry water in taparas or large gourds or goubies and calabashes scooped out and dried, and with a stopper of cornhusk. These taparas are usually bound with cord to protect them from breaking, and as a means of suspension. Often a woman might be seen with a tapara in each hand and one on her head. They contain generally from one to two gallons each. Sometimes a lad comes along with his donkey with its two paniers laden with taparas de agua; he is a water seller and his price is five farthings the gallon. Water is not therefore wasted; not that it is scarce, but it is not easily procured. Sometimes the poor are

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put to straits from being unable to buy and scarcely affording the time to descend the Aguada.

La Plaza de Exercitacion is a large square similarly situated as is that of Pun Ceres, but with buildings of a larger if not all of them of a better kind. Here is the church and the quartel for soldiers and prisoners. The square is used principally for pedestrian strollers at evening and on moonlight nights; for military manœuvres; and for bull-fights. The other square is the market called La Plaza del Mercado. Here good beef is sold at five cents the pound, good weight, reminding one of the "good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over." In slaughtering pigs the whole skin with the fat is taken off, the inner part is sliced into small diamond shapes, and rock salt of the country broken and rubbed in; it is then hung up and exposed to the air. This is tocino or bacon. Sometimes the tocino and other fatty parts are melted down, the lard placed in bottles, and the residue of the skin and other integuments is sold for food.

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