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Se —— 
306 CAYO FLAMENCO. 
layer of sand and broken shells five or six inches 
thick, covering a formation of madrepore. It was 
shaded by a forest of rhizophore, intermixed with 
euphorbie, grasses, and other plants, together with 
the magnificent Tournefortia gnaphalioides, with 
silvery leaves and odoriferous flowers. The sailors 
had been searching for langoustes; but not finding 
any, avenged themselves on the young pelicans 
_perched on the trees. The old birds hovered around, 
uttering hoarse and plaintive cries, and the young 
defended themselves with vigour, although in vain ; 
for the sailors, armed with sticks and cutlasses, 
made cruel havoc among them. “On our arrival,” 
says Humboldt, “a profound calm prevailed on 
this little spot of earth ; but now every thing seem- 
ed to say,—Man has passed here.” 
On the morning of the 11th they visited the Cayo 
Flamenco, the centre of which is depressed, and 
only 15 inches above the surface of the sea. The 
water was brackish, while in other cayos it is quite 
fresh ; a circumstance difficult to be accounted for 
in small islands scarcely elevated above the ocean, 
unless the springs be supposed to come from the 
neighbouring coast by means of hydrostatic pressure. 
Humboldt was informed by Don Francisco le Maur, 
that in the bay of Xagua, to the east of the Jardin- 
illos, fresh water gushes up in several places from 
the bottom with such force as to prove dangerous for 
small canoes. Vessels sometimes take in supplies 
from them; and the lamantins, or fresh-water ce- 
tacea, abound in the neighbourhood. 
To the east of Cape Flamenco they passed close 
to the Piedras de Diego Perez, and in the even- 
ing landed at Cayo de Piedras, two rocks forming 
al 
