68 THE BURXING FOREST. 



This port was capable of containing several squadions 

 at once. It was an nninliabited place, but annuall}^ fre- 

 quented by vessels, which carried mules to the West 

 India Islands. Humboldt traced the sinuosities of this 

 arm of the sea, which, like a river, had dug a bed be- 

 tween perpendicular rocks destitute of vegetation. The 

 prospect here reminded him of the fanciful landscape 

 which Leonardo da Yinci has made the back-ground of 

 his famous portrait of Mona Lisa, the wife of Francisco 

 del Giacondo. 



The Llaneros^ or inhabitants of the plains, sent their 

 produce, especially maize, leather, and cattle, to the port 

 of Cumana by the road over the Imposible. Humboldt 

 and Bonpland continually saw mules arrive, driven by 

 Indians, or mulattoes. Several parts of the vast forest, 

 which surrounded the mountain, had taken fire; and 

 the reddish flames, half envelojDed in clouds of smoke, 

 presented a grand spectacle. The inhabitants frequently 

 set fire to the forests, to improve the pasturage, and 

 to destroy the shrubs that choked the grass. Enor- 

 mous conflagrations, too, were often caused by the care- 

 lessness of the Indians, who neglect, when they travel, 

 to extinguish the fires by which they dress their food. 



They left the Imposible early in the morning of the 

 6th of September. The path was dangerous for their 

 beasts, being in most places but fifteen inches broad, and 

 bordered by precipices. When they quitted it it was to 

 enter a thick forest, traversed by many small rivers. 

 They walked for some hours in the shade of this forest, 

 with scarcely a glimpse of the sky. 



In this place they were struck for the first time with 

 the sight of nests in the shape of bottles, or small bags, 



