60

THEY REACH CUMANA.

versing with the Indian pilot respecting the animals and plants of his country.

At daybreak on the 16th of July, 1799, forty-one days after their departure from Corunna, they beheld a verdant coast of picturesque aspect. The mountains of New Andalusia, half-veiled by mists, bounded the horizon to the south. The city of Cumana and its castle appeared between groups of cocoa-trees. They anchored in the port about nine in the morning: the sick dragged themselves on deck to enjoy the sight of a land which was to put an end to their sufferings. The eyes of the naturalists were fixed on the groups of cocoa-trees which bordered the river: their trunks, more than sixty feet. high, towered over every object in landscape. The plain was covered with tufts of Cassia, Caper, and arborescent mimosas, which spread their branches in the form of an umbrella. The pinnated leaves of the palms were conspicuous on the azure sky, the clearness of which was unsullied by any trace of vapour.

The sun

peopled with brown The splendour of the vegetable world, the

was ascending rapidly towards the zenith. A dazzling light was spread through the air, along the whitish hills, which were strewed with cactuses, and over a sea ever calm, the shores of which were pelicans, egrets, and flamingoes. day, the vivid colouring of the forms of the plants, the varied plumage of the birds, everything was stamped with the grand character of nature in the equinoctial regions.

CHAPTER II.

ABOUT CUMANA.

THE captain of the Pizarro conducted Humboldt and Bonpland to Don Vincente Emparan, the governor of the province, that they might present to him the passports which had been furnished them by the Secretary of State at Madrid. He received them with much cordiality, and expressed his great satisfaction at the resolution they had taken to remain for some time in the province, which at that period was but little known, even by name, in Europe. Señor Emparan was a lover of science, and the public marks of consideration which he gave them during a long abode in his government, contributed greatly to procure them a favourable welcome in every part of South America.

The city of Cumana occupied the ground lying between the castle of San Antonio, and the small rivers of Manzanares and Santa Catalina. The banks of the Manzanares were very pleasant, and were shaded by mimosas, erythrinas, ceibas, and other trees of gigantic growth. The children of Cumana passed a considerable part of their lives in its waters; all the inhabitants, even the women of the most opulent families, knew how to swim; and in a country where man was so near the state

62

EVERYBODY SWIMMING.

of nature, one of the first questions asked on meeting in the morning was, whether the water was cooler than it was on the preceding evening. One of the modes of bathing was curious. Every evening Humboldt and Bonpland visited a family in the suburb of the Guayquerias. In a fine moonlight night, chairs were placed in the water; the men and women were lightly clothed, and the family and strangers, assembled in the river, passed some hours in smoking cigars, and in talking, according to the custom of the country, of the extreme dryness of the season, of the abundant rains in the neighbouring districts, and particularly of the extravagances of which the ladies of Cumana accused those of Caracas and Havanna. The company were luckily under no apprehensions from the small crocodiles, which were then extremely scarce, and which approached men without attacking them. These animals are three or four feet long. Humboldt never met with them in the Manzanares, but found a great number of dolphins, which sometimes ascended the river in the night, and frightened the bathers by spouting water.

The situation of the house which Humboldt and Bonpland occupied was highly favourable for the observation of the stars and meteorological phenomena. The view from it by day, however, was by no means pleasant to them; for a part of the great square on which it faced was surrounded with arcades, above which was one of those long wooden galleries, common in warm countries. This was the place where slaves were sold. The slaves exposed to sale were young men from fifteen to twenty years of age. Every morning cocoa-nut oil was distributed among them, with which they rubbed their

THE RIVER MANZANAREZ.

63

bodies, to give their skins a black polish. The persons who came to purchase examined the teeth of these slaves, to judge of their age and health, forcing open their mouths as if they had been horses in a market.

The first excursion of the travellers was to the peninsula of Araya. They embarked on the Rio Manzanares on the 19th of August, about two in the morning. The principal objects of this excursion were, to see the ruins of the castle of Araya, to examine the salt-works, and to make a few geological observations on the mountains forming the narrow peninsula of Maniquarez. The night was delightfully cool; swarms of phosphorescent insects glistened in the air, and over the groves of mimosa which bordered the river.

When, on descending the river, they drew near plantations, they saw bonfires kindled by the negroes. A light and undulating smoke rose to the tops of the palmtrees, and imparted a reddish hue to the disk of the moon. It was on a Sunday night, and the slaves were dancing to the music of the guitar. The bark in which they passed the gulf of Cariaco was very spacious. Large skins of the jaguar, or American tiger, were spread for their repose during the night. Though they had been scarcely two months yet in the torrid zone, they had already become so sensible to the smallest variation of temperature that the cold prevented them from sleeping.

They landed at Araya, and examined the salt-works, and having finished their operations, departed at sunset to sleep at an Indian hut, some miles distant, near the ruins of the castle of Araya. Night overtook them while they were in a narrow path, bordered on one side by the sea, and on the other by a range of perpendicular

64

GENIUS IN OBSCURITY.

rocks. The tide was rising rapidly, and narrowed the road at every step. They at length arrived at the foot of the old castle of Araya, where they enjoyed a prospect that had in it something melancholy and romantic. The ruins stood on a bare and arid mountain, which was crowned with agave, cactus, and thorny mimosas, and bore less resemblance to the works of man, than to masses of rock which were ruptured at the early revolutions of the globe.

Among the mulattoes, whose huts surrounded the salt lake, they found a shoemaker of Castilian descent. He received them with an air of gravity and self-sufficiency. He was employed in stretching the string of his bow, and sharpening his arrows to shoot birds. His trade of a shoemaker was not very lucrative in a country where the greater part of the inhabitants went barefooted; and he complained that, on account of the dearness of European gunpowder, a man of his quality was reduced to employ the same weapons as the Indians. He was the sage of the plain; he understood the formation of the salt by the influence of the sun and full moon, the symptoms of earthquakes, the marks by which mines of gold and silver were discovered, and the medicinal plants, which he classified into hot and cold. Having collected the traditions of the country, he gave them some curious accounts of the pearls of Cubagua, objects of luxury, which he treated with the utmost contempt. To show the travellers how familiar to him were the sacred writings he took a pride in reminding them that Job preferred wisdom to all the pearls of the Indies. His philosophy was circumscribed to the narrow circle of the wants of life. The possession of a very strong