533 ISLAND OF BORACHA. 
when enlightened by the moon, which now shone in 
a clear sky. The travellers were becalmed in the 
neighbourhood of these islands, and at sunrise drift- 
ed toward Boracha, the largest of them. The tem- 
perature had sensibly increased, in consequence of 
the rocks giving out by radiation a portion of the 
heat which they had absorbed during the day. As 
the sun rose, the cliffs projected their lengthened 
shadows on the ocean, and the flamingoes began to 
fish in the creeks. These insular spots were all un- 
inhabited; but on one of them, which had formerly 
been the residence of a family of whites, there were 
wild goats of a large size and brown colour. The 
inhabitants had cultivated maize and cassava; but 
the father, after the death of his children, having 
purchased two black slaves, was murdered by them. 
One of the assassins subsequently informed against 
his accomplice, and at the time of Humboldt’s visit 
was hangman at Cumana. | 
Proceeding onwards, they anchored for some 
hours in the road of New Barcelona, at the mouth 
of the river Neveri, which is full of crocodiles. 
These animals, especialiy in calm weather, occa- 
sionally make excursions into the open sea,—a fact 
which is interesting to geologists, on account of the 
mixture of marine and fresh water organic remains 
that are occasionally observed in some of the more 
recent deposites. The port of Barcelona had at 
that time a very active commerce, arising from the 
demand in the West Indies for salted provision, 
oxen, mules, and horses; the merchants of the Ha- 
vannah being the principal purchasers. Its situa- 
tion is extremely favourable for this exportation, 
the animals arriving in three days from the Llanos, 
