With the Trade-Winds; A Jaunt in Venezuela and the West Indies (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1897 Excerpt: ... XIX. CARACAS, A CAPITAL IN THE VENEZUELAN ANDES. T7ITH the tooting and screeching of " our English locomotives and the ringing of gongs we departed Monday afternoon from the railroad station at La Guayra for Caracas. The cars were typical English coaches and the locomotives also were English built. Telegraph and telephone lines also are in operation in all the principal cities of Venezuela. A few minutes' ride brought us to the crest of the hill overlooking the city, from whence we obtained a bird's-eye view of the place at which we had spent the last few days. But it was not until some minutes afterward, in winding our way up the steep precipices, thousands of feet above the sea, that we appreciated the magnitude of this railroad enterprise and its marvels of engineering and construction. The St. Gothard Pass in Switzerland is nothing in comparison, neither is Georgetown in Colorado, nor the Mexican Railroad which thunders down the mountains from the City of Mexico on its way to Vera Cruz. Like flies on a wall we scaled the dizzy precipice. The mountains extended as far as the eye can reach in either direction, while back of us, thousands of feet below, rolled the blue sea with here and there a white speck signifying a ship bound for a distant port. When a little later our train climbed over the crest, there lay before us the beautiful valley of the Rio Guaire with the fair city of Caracas in its midst. We were soon lodged in our comfortable quarters at the Grand Hotel, where I met an old travelling companion. We three had a pleasant dinner, comparing notes of travel and discussing the recent topics of the day, both in Europe and America. The Marquis called me betimes the following morning, as we had many places to visit and much to do the next few days be...