THE BURNING FOREST. 



This port v. ipable of containing several squadiona 

 at mi. It was an uninhabited place, bnt annually fre- 

 quented by vessels, which carried mules to the West 

 [ndia Islands. Bumboldl traced the rinuosities of this 

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

 ■ een perpendicular rocks destitute of vegetation. The 

 prosped here reminded him of the fanciful landscape 

 which Leonardo da Vinci has made the back-ground of 

 his famous portrait of Mona Lisa, the wife of Francisco 

 del Giacondo. 



The Llanero8, or inhabitants of the plains, sent their 

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

 of Cumana by the road over the bnposible. Humboldt 

 and Bonpland continually saw mules arrive, driven by 

 [ndians, or mulattoes. Several parts of the vast forest, 

 which Burrounded the mountain, had taken fire; and 

 the reddisb Barnes, half enveloped in clouds of smoke, 

 presented a grand spectacle. The inhabitants frequently 



• 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 tires by which thev dress their food. 



• * 



Thev left the Imposible early in the morning of the 

 5th of September. The path was dangerous for their 

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

 bordered by precipice When they quitted it it was to 

 enter a thick forest, traversed by manv small rivers. 

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

 with scarcely a glimpse of the Bky. 



In this place they were struck for the first time with 

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



