84 EYE-STONES. 
In the estimation of the natives, the most curious 
production of the coast of Araya is what they call 
the eye-stone. 'They consider it as both a stone and 
an animal, and assert, that when it is found in the 
sand it is motionless ; whereas on a polished surface, 
as an earthen plate, it moves when stimulated by 
lemon-juice. When introduced into the eye, it ex- 
pels every other substance that may have accidental- 
‘ly insinuated itself. The people offered these stones 
to the travellers by hundreds, and wished to put 
sand into their eyes, that they might try the power 
of this wondrous remedy; which, however, was no- 
thing else than the operculum of a small shell-fish. 
Near Cape de la Brea, at the distance of eighty 
feet from the shore, is a small stream of naphtha, 
the produce of which covers the sea to a great extent. 
It is a singular circumstance that this spring issues 
from mica-slate, all others that are known belong- 
ing to secondary deposites. 
After examining the neighbourhood of Mani- 
quarez, the adventurers embarked at night in a 
small fishing-boat, so leaky that a person was con- 
stantly employed in baling out the water with a 
ealabash, and arrived in safety at Cumana. 
