62 MALIGNANT FEVER. 
bers of the same family, seems to unite men by the 
feeling of a common evil. In the course of the night 
the body of the Asturian was brought upon deck, 
and the priest prevailed upon them not to throw it 
into the sea until after sunrise, in order that he might 
render to it the last rites, in conformity to the prac- 
tice of the Romish church. There was not an indi- 
vidual on board who did not feel for the fate of this 
young man, whom we had seen a few days before 
full of cheerfulness and health.” 
The passengers who had not been affected by the 
disease resolved to leave the ship at the first place 
where she should touch, and there wait the arrival 
of another packet to convey them to Cuba and 
Mexico. Our travellers also thought it prudent to 
land at Cumana, more especially as they wished not 
to visit New Spain until they had remained for some 
time on the coasts of Venezuela and Paria, and 
examined the beautiful plants of which Bose and 
Bredemeyer collected specimens on their voyage to 
Terra Firma, and which Humboldt had seen in the 
gardens of Schénbrunn and Vienna. This resolution 
had a happy influence upon the direction of their jour- 
ney, as will subsequently be seen, and perhaps was 
the occasion of securing for them the health which 
they enjoyed during a long residence in the equi- 
noctial regions. ‘They were by this means fortunate 
enough to pass the time when a European recently 
landed runs the greatest danger of being affected by 
the yellow fever, in the hot but very dry climate of 
Cumana, a city celebrated for its salubrity. 
As the coast of Paria stretches to the west, in 
the form of perpendicular cliffs of no great height, 
they were long without perceiving the bold shores 
of the island of St Margaret, where they intended 
