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 ol 

 bathing was curious. Every evening Ilumboldt and 

 Bonpland visited a family in the suburb of the Guay- 

 querias. 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 neigh- 

 bv'^uring districts, and particularly of the extravagances 

 of which the ladies of Cumana accused those of Ca- 

 racas 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 Bon- 

 pland occupied was highly favourable for the observa- 

 tion of the stars and meteorological phenomena. The 

 view from it by day, however, was by no means plea- 

 sant 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 coun- 

 tries. 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 



