220 STOmtY VOYAGE. 



in the mouth of the Atrato, beyond the cape of La Vela, 

 along an extent of 120 leagues, haa a general direction from 

 S.AV. to N.E 



The wind having dropped during the night we could 

 only advance to the island of Arenas, where we anchored. 

 I found it was 78 2' 10" of longitude. The weather became 

 stormy during the night. "We again set sail on the morning 

 of the 29th of March, hoping to be able to reach Boca Chica 

 that day. The gale blew with extreme violence, and we 

 were unable to proceed with our frail bark against the wind 

 and the current, when, by a false manoeuvre in setting the 

 sails, (we had but four sailors), we were during some 

 minutes in imminent danger. The captain, who was not 

 a very bold mariner, declined to proceed further up the 

 coast, and we took refuge, sheltered from the wind, in a nook 

 of the island of Baru, south of Punta Grigantes. It was 

 Palm Sunday; and the Zambo who had accompanied us to 

 the Orinoco, and did not leave us till we returned to France, 

 reminded us that on the same Sunday in the preceding year, 

 we had nearly been lost, on the north of the mission of 

 Uruana. 



There was to be an eclipse of the moon during the night, 

 and the next day an occupation of a Virginis. The obser- 

 vation of the latter phenomenon might have been very 

 important in determining the longitude of Cathagena. In 

 vain I urged the captain to allow one of his sailors to accom- 

 pany me by land to the foot of Boca Chica, a distance of 

 five miles. He objected on account of the wild state of the 

 country, in which there is neither habitation nor path. A 

 little incident, which might have rendered Palm-Sunday 

 more fatal, justified the prudence of the captain. We went 

 by moonlight, to collect plants on the shore, as we ap- 

 proached the land, we saw a young negro issue from the 

 thicket. He was quite naked, loaded with chains, and 

 armed with a machete He invited us to land on a part 

 of the beach covered with large mangroves, as being a spot 

 where the surf did not break, and offered to conduct us to 

 the interior of the island of Baru, if we would promise to 

 give him some clothes. His cunning and wild appearance, 

 the often-repeated question whether we were Spaniards, 

 and certain unintelligible words which he addressed to some 



