BOISTEROUS WEATUER. 2()7 



on the night of the 28th. Next day the gale hlew witli cnAP.xxii 



great violence ; but they again proceeded, hoping to be DangcTat 



able to reach the Boca Chica. The sea was so rough as sea. 



to break over the deck, and while they were running 



short tacks, a false manoeuvre in setting the sails 



exposed them for some minutes to imminent danger. 



It was Palm Sunday ; and a Zambo, who had followed 



them to the Orinoco, and remained in their service until 



they returned to France, did not fail to remind them, 



that on the same day the preceding year they had 



undergone a similar danger near the mission of Uruana. 



After this they took refuge in a creek of the isle of 



Baru, 



As there was to be an eclipse of the moon that night, Lnnar 

 and next day an occultation of a Virginis, Humboldt ecUpsc. 

 insisted that the captain should allow one of the sailors 

 to accompany him by land to the Boca Chica, the 

 distance being only six miles ; but the latter refused, on 

 account of the savage state of the country, in which there 

 was neither path nor habitation ; and an incident which 

 occurred justified his prudence. The travellers were 

 going ashore to gather plants by moonlight, when there 

 issued from the thicket a young negro loaded with Rnnaivay 

 fetters and armed with a cutlass. He urged them to °'^8ro. 

 disembark on a beach covered with large lihizophorce, 

 among which the sea did not break, and offered to 

 conduct them to the interior of the island of Baru it 

 they would give him some clothes ; but his cunning 

 and savage air, his repeated inquiries as to their being 

 Spaniards, and the unintelligible words addressed to his 

 companions who were concealed among the trees, excited 

 their suspicions, and induced them to return on board. 

 These blacks were probably Maroon negroes, who had 

 escaped from prison. The appearance of a naked man, PainM 

 wandering on an uninhabited shore, and unable to rid '■'^^^ 

 himself of the chains fastened round his neck and arm, 

 left a painful impression on the travellers ; but the 

 sailors felt so little sympathy with these miserable 



