STATE OF THE SICK. (]\ 



his satisfaction at the resolution which they had taken chap. V. 

 of remaining for some time in New Andalusia ; showed j, ~T" 

 them cottons dyed with native plants, and furniture 

 made of indigenous wood ; and surprised them with 

 questions indicative of scientific attainments. On dis- 

 embarking their instruments, they had the pleasure of 

 finding that none of them had been damaged. They 

 hired a spacious house in a situation favourable for as- 

 tronomical observations, in which they enjoyed an agree- 

 able coolness when the breeze arose, the windows being 

 without glass, or even the paper panes which are often 

 substituted for it at Cumana. 



The passengers all left the vessel. Those who had Recovery of 

 been attacked by the fever recovered so very slowly, ^^^ ^'^^ 

 that some were seen a month after, who, notwithstanding 

 the care bestowed upon them by their countrymen, 

 were still in a state of extreme debility. The hospitality 

 of the inhabitants of the Spanish colonies is such that 

 the poorest stranger is sure of receiving the kindest 

 treatment. Among the sick landed here was a negro, Death of a 

 who soon fell into a state of insanity and died ; which negra 

 fact our author mentions, as a proof that persons Lorn 

 in the torrid zone are liable to suffer from the heat of 

 the tropics after having resided in temperate climates. 

 This individual, who was a robust young man, was a 

 native of Guinea, but had lived for some years on the 

 elevated plain of Castile. 



The soil around Cumana is composed of gypsum and c,p;| ^^^ 

 calcareous breccia, and is supposed at a remote period to plants. 

 have been covered by the sea. The neighbourhood of v 

 the city is remarkable for the woods of cactus which are 

 spread over the arid lands. Some of these plants were 

 thirty or forty feet high, covered with lichens, and di- 

 vided into branches in the form of a candelabrum. 

 When the large species grow in groups they form a 

 thicket which, while it is almost impenetrable, is ex- 

 tremely dangerous on account of the poisonous serpents 

 that fiisquent it. 



The fortress of St Antonio, which is built on a calcar- 



