e, our mansion of San Pablo had one or two rooms
set apart for invalids, provided with doors and windows of solid planks
of timber in the rough; the other apartments had the upper half of the
walls purposely left open, to admit full and free entrance of light and
air. A narrow piazza or corridor, formed by the slanting of the roof to
within five feet of the ground, ran along the entire length of the main
building, and was intended more as a protection to the rooms against the
sun and rains than as a resort for the inmates.

The first step, on arriving, was to secure a place in the open
reception-room for my own chattels and hammock, before all the
spare posts and hooks had been appropriated by my companions. This
accomplished, I proceeded to a thorough examination of my saddle and its
accoutrements, so as to have them adapted to the peculiar mode of
travelling in the Llanos. This care I left to the good judgment of our
attendants, not being myself sufficiently skilled in the art of mending,
greasing, and putting in order the complicated gear of our riding
equipment. In the same predicament were also my two English companions,
and our worthy doctor; a kind word, however, addressed to the
good-natured Llaneros--especially if accompanied with a drop of
aguardiente--never failed of enlisting their services in our favor.

Habit, as well as necessity, is sometimes the mother of invention, as my
experience soon taught me that, to get along in my new quarters, it
would be requisite to set aside the airs and insignia of civilization.
Divesting myself, therefore, of all such superfluities as coat, cravat,
pants, and shoes, I adopted the less cumbrous attire of the Llaneros,
consisting mainly of breeches tightly buttoned at the knee, and a loose
shirt, usually of a bright checkered pattern. Shoes are altogether
dispensed with in a country like the Llanos, subject to drenching rains,
and covered with mud during a great portion of the year, besides the
inconvenience they offer to the rider in holding the stirrup securely
when in chase of wild animals. The leg, however, is well protected from
the thorns and cutting grass of the savannas by a neat legging or
_botin_, made of buff-skin, tightly buttoned down the calf by knobs or
studs of highly polished silver. Another characteristic article of
dress, and one in which the wearers take great pride, is the linen
checkered handkerchief loosely worn around the head. Its object is
ostensib