280 INTRODUCTION TO CONCHOLOGY. 



arid mountain^ crowned with agave, columnar cactus, and 

 thorny mimosa, the ruins resembling less the work of man 

 than such bare and unclothed masses of primeval rock as 

 were ruptured in the earliest convulsions of the globe. 



Tlie scenes of early life entwine themselves, as with a 

 spell^ around the heart. Thus the aborigines of Araga 

 prefer the wild and barren spot which gave them birth to 

 the attractions of more polished life, and support themselves 

 by catching fish, which is extremely abundant on the coast. 

 When asked why they have neither gardens nor culinary 

 vegetables — "Our gardens,"^ they reply, "are beyond the 

 Gulf; when we carry our fish to Cumana, we bring back 

 plantains, cocoa-nuts, and cassava."*^ 



One of these was a mulatto, tJie sage of the plain, who 

 professed to know the vii'tues of plants, the symptoms of 

 earthquakes, and the marks which distinguish the neigh- 

 bourhood of precious metals. When the traveller entered 

 his humble dwelling, he found him employed in sharpening 

 arrows, and stretching the strings of his bow. Delighted 

 with an opportunity of imparting his scanty store of know- 

 ledge, he readily communicated some interesting particulars 

 relative to the pearls of Cumana, which, as objects of deco- 

 ration, he treated with contempt ; and, in order to evince 



