DANGER FROM MAROON" NEGROES, 269 



midst of savannas, where the balsam of Toln, form- 

 erly so celebrated as a medicament, is still gathered. 

 On leaving the Gulf of Morosquillo they found the 

 waves swelling so high, that the captain was glad to 

 seek for shelter, and lay-to on the north of the vil- 

 lage of Rincon ; but discovering that they were upon 

 a coral rock, they preferred the open water, and 

 finally anchored near the isle of Arenas, on the night 

 of the 28th. Next day the gale blew with great 

 violence ; but they again proceeded, hoping to be 

 able to reach the Boca Chica. The sea was so 

 rough as to break over the deck, and while they 

 were running short tacks, a false manoeuvre in set- 

 ting the sails exposed them for some minutes to im- 

 minent danger. It was Palm Sunday ; and a Zam- 

 bo, who had followed them to the Orinoco and re- 

 mained in their service until they returned to France, 

 did not fail to remind them, that on the same day 

 the preceding year they had undergone a similar 

 danger near the mission of Uruana. After this they 

 took refuge in a creek of the isle of Barn. 



As there was to be an eclipse of the moon that 

 night, and next day an occultation of a Virginis, 

 Humboldt insisted that the captain should allow one 

 of the sailors to accompany him by land to the Boca 

 Chica, the distance being only six miles ; but the 

 latter refused, on account of the savage state of the 

 country, in which there was neither path nor hab- 

 itation ; and an incident which occurred justified his 

 prudence. The travellers were going ashore to 

 gather plants by moonlight, when there issued from 

 the thicket a young negro loaded with fetters, and 

 armed with a cutlass. He urged them to disembark 

 on a beach covered with large Rhizophorte among 

 which the sea did not break, and offered to conduct 

 them to the interior of the island of Baru if they 

 would give him some clothes ; but his cunning and 

 savage air, his repeated inquiries as to their being 

 Spaniards, and the unintelligible words addressed to 



