78 AFRICAN SLAVES. 
parent. It consisted of two circles; a larger, of a 
whitish colour, and 44° in diameter, and a smaller, 
displaying all the tints of the rainbow, and 1° 43’ 
in diameter. The intermediate space was of the 
deepest azure. 
Part of the great square is surrounded with ar- 
eades, over which is a long wooden gallery, where 
slaves imported from the coast of Africa are sold. 
These were young men from fifteen to twenty 
years of age. Every morning cocoa-nut oil was 
given them, with which they rubbed their skin, to 
render it glossy. The persons who came to pur- 
chase them examined their teeth, as we do those of 
horses, to judge of their age and health. Yet the 
Spanish laws, according to our author, have never 
favoured the trade in African slaves, the number of — 
whom in 1800 did not exceed 6000 in the two pro- 
vinees of Cumana and Barcelona, while the whole 
population was estimated at 110,000. 
The first excursion which our travellers made 
was to the peninsula of Araya. They embarked on 
the Manzanares, near the Indian suburb, about two 
in the morning of the 19th August. The night 
was delightfully cool. Swarms of shining insects 
(Elater noctilucus) sparkled in the air-along the 
banks of the river. As the boat descended the 
stream they observed a company of negroes dancing 
to the music of the guitar by the light of bonfires,— 
a practice which they prefer to mere relaxation or 
sleep, on their days of rest. 
The bark in which they passed the Gulf of Cari- 
aco was commodious, and large skins of the jaguar 
were spread for their repose during the night. The 
cold, however, prevented them from sleeping, al- 
