COAST OF NEW ANDALUSIA. 63 
to stop for the purpose of obtaining information re- 
specting the English cruisers. Toward eleven in 
the morning of the 15th, they observed a very low 
islet covered with sand, and destitute of any trace 
of culture or habitation. Cactuses rose here and 
there from a scanty soil which seemed to have an 
undulating motion, in consequence of the extra- 
ordinary refraction the solar rays undergo in pass- 
ing through the stratum of air in contact with a 
strongly-heated surface. Thedesertsandsandy shores 
of all countries present this appearance. The aspect 
of this place not corresponding with the ideas which 
they had formed of the island of Margaretta, and 
the greatest perplexity existing as to their position 
and course, they cast anchor in shallow water, and 
were visited by some Guayquerias in two canoes, 
constructed each of the single trunk of a tree. These 
Indians, who were of a coppery colour and very tall, 
informed them that they had kept too far south, 
that the low islet near which they were at anchor 
was the island of Coche, and that Spanish vessels 
coming from Europe usually passed to the north- 
ward of it. The master of one of the canoes offered 
to remain on board as coasting pilot, and towards 
evening the captain set sail. 
On the 16th they beheld a verdant coast of pic- 
turesque appearance ; the mountains of New An- 
dalusia bounded the southern horizon, and the city 
of Cumana and its castle appeared among groups 
of trees. They anchored in the port about nine 
in the morning, when the sick crawled on deck to 
enjoy the sight. ‘The river was bordered with co- 
coa-trees more than sixty feet high,—the plain was 
covered with tufts of cassias, capers, and arbores- 
cent mimosas, while the pinnated leaves of the 
