. The land of Bolivar; or, War, peace, and adventure in the Republic of Venezuela . he has rescued,and from the unprofitable nature of his efforts, worthy,at least, of the medal of the Royal Humane Society. When the steamer Estrella was lost, he broughtaway thirty-two passengers and the crew, who hadpassed two days and nights on a sandbank withoutwater. Another of Boyes anecdotes was about a vesselon which he did claim salvao^e. He had saved thegreater part of the cargo, consisting, according to thecaptains statement, of from thirty to forty kegs ofcopper nails. The rescuer agreed to take $ioo
. The land of Bolivar; or, War, peace, and adventure in the Republic of Venezuela . he has rescued,and from the unprofitable nature of his efforts, worthy,at least, of the medal of the Royal Humane Society. When the steamer Estrella was lost, he broughtaway thirty-two passengers and the crew, who hadpassed two days and nights on a sandbank withoutwater. Another of Boyes anecdotes was about a vesselon which he did claim salvao^e. He had saved thegreater part of the cargo, consisting, according to thecaptains statement, of from thirty to forty kegs ofcopper nails. The rescuer agreed to take $ioo for hisclaim. Conceive of his chagrin when he afterwardslearned at La Guayra that the kegs were full of l^ullion. Chap. \i.] A RAT BATTUE. ■°5 and that ^2000 was the amount of liis share of thesalvage. Boye affirms tliat liis confidence in n;iil-kegsis fearfully shaken. On the eliart these ishmds are marked arc icijuested not to go close enough toprove the existence of tlie perilous shoals, but to takethe fact for oTaiited that thev are there. A tradition. INTERIOR OF BOVE S HOUSE. here tells of an entire fleet of men-of-war liavino- runashore on one of the reefs. At supper Boye said we should have some called his negroes, who armed themselves Mdthsticks and started off rat-huiltins;. Clear moonliolitfavoured the pursuers, the game being plainly dis- 2o6 THE LAND OF BOLIVAR. [Chap. xi. cernible on the flats. When a rat had been rundown, a shout of triumph announced the success. Itwas a discordant sort of music, but in less than halfan hour the battue ended, and the spoilers returnedwith the fruits of the slaughter, numbering in all forty-four dead rats. These rodents were very plentiful onEl Gran Koque. They must have originated fromsome WTCck, and their multiplication had become soexcessive, that in walking up and down there was theconstant danger of treading upon them. As the soilof the island is thoroughly impregnated with salt, itmight be ver
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