TOTAOE TO TI1E 1IAVANNAH. 147 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



Passage from the Coast of Venezuela to the Havannah. General View of 

 the Population of the West India Islands, compared with the Popu- 

 lation of the New Continent, with respect to diversity of races, personal 

 liberty, language, and worship. 



WE sailed from Nueva Barcelona on the 24th of Novem- 

 ber, at nine o'clock in the evening; and we doubled the 

 small rocky island of Borachita. The night was marked by 

 that coolness which characterizes the nights of the tropics, 

 and the agreeable effect of which can only be conceived by 

 comparing the nocturnal temperature, trom 23 to 24 

 centigrade, with the mean temperature of the day, which in 

 those latitudes is generally, even on the coast, from 28 to 

 29. Next day, soon after the observation of noon, we 

 reached the meridian of the island of Tortugas. It 'is 

 destitute of vegetation ; and like the little islands of Coche 

 and Cabagua, is remarkable for its small elevation above the 

 level of the sea, 



In the forenoon of the 26th we began to lose sight of the 

 island of Marguerita, and I endeavoured to verify the height 

 of the rocky group of Macanao. It appeared under an 

 angle of 16' 35" ; which in a distance estimated at 

 sixty miles, would give the mica-slate group of Macanao 

 the elevation of about 660 toises, a result which, in a zone 

 where the terrestrial refractions are so unchanging, leads me 

 to think that the island was less distant than we supposed. 

 The dome of the Silla of Caracas, lying 62 to the S.W., 

 long fixed our attention. At those times when the coast 

 ia not loaded with vapours, the Silla must be visible at sea, 

 without reckoning the effects of refraction, at thirty-three 

 leagues distance. During the 26th, and the three following 

 days, the sea was covered with a bluish film, which, when 

 examined by a compound microscope, appeared formed of an 

 innumerable quantity of filaments. We frequently find 

 these filaments in the Gulf-stream, and the Channel of 

 Bahama, as well as near the coast of Buenos Ayres. Some 

 naturalists are of opinion that they are vestiges of the eggs 

 of mollusca : but they appear to be more like fragments of 

 fuci. The phosphorescence of sea-water seems however to 



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