FLF OF BJLTJLBANO. 181 



of Cuba, there are both crocodiles and caymans."* To these 

 valuable observations of Dampier, I may add that the real 

 crocodile (Crocodilus acutus) is found in the West India 

 Islands nearest the main land, for instance, at the island of 

 Trinidad; at Marguerita; and also, probably, at Curafao, 

 notwithstanding the want of fresh water. It is observed, 

 further south, in the Neveri, the Eio Magdalena, the Apure, 

 and the Orinoco, as far as the confluence of the Cassiquiare 

 with the Eio Negro (lat. 2 2'), consequently more than 

 four hundred leagues from Batabano. It would be interest- 

 ing to verify on the eastern coast of Mexico and G-uatimala, 

 between the Mississippi and the Eio Chagres (in the isthmus 

 of Panama), the limit of the different species of carnivorous 

 reptiles. 



We set sail on the 9th of March, somewhat incommoded 

 by the extreme smallness of our vessel, which afforded us no 

 sleeping-place but upon deck. The cabin (camera de pozo) 

 received no air or light but from above ; it was merely a hold 

 for provisions, and it was with difficulty that we could place 

 our instruments in it. The thermometer kept up constantly 

 at 32 and 33 (centesimal.) Luckily these inconveniences 

 lasted only twenty days. Our several voyages in the canoes 

 of the Orinoco, and a passage in an American vessel laden 

 with several thousand arrobas of salt meat dried in the sun 

 had rendered us not very fastidious. 



The gulf of Batabano, bounded by a low and marshy 

 coast, looks like a vast desert. The fishing birds, which are 

 generally at their post whilst the small land birds, and the 

 indolent vulturesf are at roost, are seen only in small num- 

 bers. The sea is of a greenish-brown hue, as in some of the 

 lakes of Switzerland ; while the air, owing to its extreme 

 purity, had, at the moment the sun appeared above the 

 horizon, a cold tint of pale blue, similar to that which land- 

 scape painters observe at the same hour in the south of Italy, 

 and which makes distant objects stand out in strong relief. 

 Our sloop was the only vessel in the gulf; for the road- 

 1 of Batabano is scarcely visited except by smug 

 triers, or, as they are here politely called, " the traders,'* 

 (ioa tratantes). The projected canal of Guines will rendef 



* Dampier'i Voyages and Descriptions (1599). 

 f Vultur aura. 



