PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA. 113 



islands. They are thirty-two feet long, three feet 

 high at the gunwale, without decks, and generally 

 carry from 200 to 250 quintals (181 to 226 cwts. 

 avoirdupois). Although the sea is veryrougli from 

 Cape Codera to La Guayra, and these boats have an 

 enormous triangular sail, there had not been an in- 

 stance for thirty years of the loss of one of them 

 on the passage from Cumana to Caraccas, so great 

 is the skill of the Guayqueria pilots. They de- 

 scended the Manzanares with rapidity, delighted 

 with the sight of its marginal cocoa-trees, and the 

 glitter of the thorny bushes covered with noctilu- 

 cous insects, and left with regret a country in wliich 

 every thing had appeared new and marvellous. 

 Passing at high water the bar of the river, they en- 

 tered the Gulf of Cariaco, the surface of which was 

 gently rippled by the evening breeze. In a short 

 time the coasts were recognised only by the scat- 

 tered lights of the Indian fishermen. 



As they advanced towards the shoal that sur- 

 rounds Cape Arenas, stretching as far as the petro- 

 leum springs of Maniquarez, they enjoyed one of 

 those beautiful sights which the phosphorescence of 

 the sea so often displays in tropical climates. When 

 the porpoises, wliich followed the boat in bands of 

 fifteen or sixteen, struck the surface of the water 

 with their tails, they produced a brilliant light re- 

 sembling flames. Each troop left behind it a lumi- 

 nous track ; and as few sparks were caused by the 

 motion of an oar or of the boat, Humboldt conjectured 

 that the vivid glow produced by these cetaceous ani- 

 mals was owing, not to the stroke of their tails alone, 

 but also to the gelatinous matter which envelops 

 their bodies, and which is detached by the waves. 



At midnight they found themselves among some 

 rocky islets, rising in the form of bastions, and con- 

 stituting the group of the Caraccas and Chimanas. 

 Many of these eminences are visible from Cumana, 

 and present the most singular appearances under 



K2 



