The Republican journal., 1902-11-20
hem at ten or twelve years OF age.

la CoteZ, HlZarr0 ana Otner early
Spaniards. Fond parents present their
half-grown boys with Indian maidens
for birthday and Christmas gifts, as we
give our sons ponies, or other expensive
pets.
Nearer the wild regions of the great
interior forests of Venezuela are nu-
merouS settlements of lake dWellers,
where they live in comparative securi-
ty They give as reasons for their pecu-
liar choice of residence, first. of course,
because their ancestors from time I'M
memorial lived in the same manner;
ana second, that they dare not live ON
the main land fer fear of wild Indians.
especially their deadly enemies, the
Wild and savage Guajiros. \ deScrip-
ton of one lake-house answers for all
the rest. Its walls are of wild cane
stalks or Damboos, set some distance
apart to let in light and air its root is
OF dried palm-leaves. sloping down on
all sides to the foundation, and its
floor of poles laid side by side. Be
tween the flooring, the water ten or
twelve feet below, is everywhere visi-
be. No need to open ii door if there
were such a thing as doors in these
houses to throw 0ut trash" and gar
bage: you simply drop it between tie
poles into the lake The ire in one
conner, over which the cooking is done
is prevented from falling through 10y
being laid ON thick bed of cla;, above
which are few flat stones. which not
only uphold the Indispensable iron pot
and enclose the fire. but serve for bak-
ing bread upon. Heaps of rags. palm
leaves or dried grass indicate beds, and
on one of these we saw a litter of baby
pigs contentedly snoozing. The thatch
overhead is stuck full of fishing imple-
mentS, spears. bows, arrows and rude
baskets and cradles, made by these
queer people. Generally in the middle
OF the day, you will hardly find man
or a grown boy III one of these lake-vil
lagos; they are all off hunting or fish
ing, or selling their truck on the main
land. But each hut contains so many
women, girls, babies and small boys
that you wonder where the absent men
find any room when they return. Very
few of them are of the orthodox cop
per-color. Many are nearly white, and
some have blue eyes and blonde hair
features accounted for by the fact that
their white fathers live in the city, com
ing down to visit their Indian llarem
whenever it suits their lordly pleasure
Strange 20 say. the lake-dWellers never
make gardens on dry land. though with
in half mile of tnelr miserable huts
is plenty they might have for the till
ing. Many OF them have artificial gar
dens close by. or rather under their
villages, which do pot float like the
celebrated Niga gardens of Mexico,
because strongly moored to the piles
that support the houses. They are made
by fitting great palm logs together like
a fence and filling III the enclosure
perhaps fifty feet across-With earth
brought from the shore a little at a time
in their dug-outs. Think of the un-
necessary labor involved, when two or
three feet of water, to say nothing of
fathomless mud, forms the foundation
of the garden But pumpkins, corn,
beans, and even fruit trees thrive in
them. The great lake OF Maracaibo is
one hundred and thirty-seven miles long
by about eighty miles wide, and re-
ceives constant tribute from several
hundred rivers and smaller streams.
principally OF Andeau origin. Many of
the rivers are nayigable for long dis
tances. such as the Catatumba the
Bravo, etc, and the Iulia which eX-
tends far into the adjoining republic of
Colombia and furnishes a route for the
transportation of an ever increasing
amount of coffee. of both Venezuelan
and Colombian growth, but classed III
the market as "Maracaibo" coffee. The
shores of the lake are generally low,
except toward the south and the noun
tains; and this is also true of the long
neck of brackish water which connects
the body of the lake with the outer
lagoon, or Columbus Gulf of Sorrow"
Along their bordering plains are extern
sive groves of cocoa palms, the source
of easy wealth to their owners and
beautifyiug the landscape by their state
ly grace. Besides these frequent cocoa
groves, you see groups of the graceful
date palm; and in the sleepy pueblas,
or lake villages, long rows of magniti-
cent royal palms, suggestive of the col
umns of temples and the perfection of
Corinthian architecture One marvels
that the English language is so poor
that it could find no better name than
cabbage palm to give to the most
finished and splendid tree in the world :,
Baron Humboldt, you know, says that
there are upwards of three hundred dis
tinct varieties of palms in South Ameri-
ca: and Venezuela has the most of them.
AL the lakeside homes are emboWered
with trees, usually bearing fruit, such