MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



443 



leaves, and woods, infuse also, as 

 we may say, the germes of disso- 

 lution into the vital organs. De- 

 structive fevers carried off not 

 only the ship-carpenters, but the 

 persons who had the management 

 of the establishment : and this 

 bay, which the first Spaniards 

 named Golfo Tristo, Melancholy 

 Bay, on account of the mournful 

 and savage aspect of its coasts, 

 became the grave of European 

 seamen. Our host had the rare 

 good fortune to escape these dan- 

 gers. After having witnessed the 

 death of a great number of his 

 friends, he withdrew far from the 

 coasts to the mountains of Co- 

 collar. Without neighbours, the 

 quiet possessor of five leagues of 

 savannahs, he enjoyed at once 

 that independence, which belongs 

 to solitude, and that serenity of 

 mind, which a pure and bracing 

 air produces in men who live 

 agreeably to the simplicity of 

 nature. 



Nothing can be compared to 

 the impression of majestic tran- 

 quillity, which the aspect of the 

 firmament inspires in this solitary 

 region. Following with the eye, 

 at the entrance of the night, those 

 meadows that bound the horizon, 

 that plain covered with verdure, 

 and gently undulated, we thought 

 we saw from afar, as in the deserts 

 of the Oronoko, the surface of the 

 ocean supporting the starry vault 

 of heaven. The tree under which 

 we were seated, the luminous in- 

 sects flying in the air, the con- 

 stellations that shone toward the 

 south ; every object seemed to 

 tell us, that we were far from our 

 native soil. If amid this exotic 

 nature the bell of a cow, or the 

 roaring of a bull, were heard from 



the depth of a valley, the remem- 

 brance of our country was awak- 

 ened suddenly in the sound. They 

 were like distant voices resound- 

 ing from beyond the ocean, and 

 with magical power transporting 

 us from one hemisphere to the 

 other. Strange mobility of the 

 imagination of man, eternal source 

 of our enjoyments, and our pains! 

 We began in the cool of the 

 morning to climb the Tumiriquiri. 

 Thus is called the summit of the 

 Cocollar, which, with the Brigan- 

 tine, forms one single mass of 

 mountain, formerly called by the 

 natives the Sierra de los Tigeres. 

 We travelled along a part of the 

 road on horses, which roam about 

 these savannahs; but some of 

 them are used to the saddle. 

 Though their appearance is very- 

 heavy, they pass lightly over the 

 most slippery turf. We first 

 stopped at a spring, that issues 

 not from the calcareous rock, but 

 from a layer of quartzose sand- 

 stone.* The temperature was 21", 

 consequently 1-5° less than the 

 spring of Quetepe ; hence the dif- 

 ference of the level is nearly 220 

 toises. Wlierever the sandstone 

 appears above ground the soil is 

 level, and constitutes as it were 

 small platforms, which follow like 

 steps. To the height of 700 

 toises, and even beyond, this 

 mountain,like those in its vicinity, 

 is covered only with gramineous 

 plants.f This failure of trees is 

 attributed at Cumana to the great 



* Direction: hor. 4-3. Dip. 45° 

 south-east. 



t The most abundant species are 

 the paspalus ; the andropogon fasti- 

 giatum, which forms the genus diec- 

 lomis of Mr. Palissot do Beauvois ; 

 and the panicum olyroides. 



elevation 



