42 



The captain resolved to send a pilot on shore, 

 and the men were preparing to hoist out the 

 long-boat, the cutter having been damaged by 

 the surge in the road of Santa Cruz ; but the 

 coast being still far off, the return of the boat 

 might have become difficult, if the breeze had 

 freshened toward evening. 



At the moment we were preparing to go on 

 shore, we perceived two canoes sailing along the 

 coast. Again we fired a gun as a signal for 

 these ; and though we had hoisted Spanish co- 

 lours, they drew near with distrust. These 

 canoes, like all those made use of by the na- 

 tives, were constructed of the single trunk of a 

 tree ; and in each were eighteen Guayqueria In- 

 dians, naked to the waist, of very tall stature. 

 They had the appearance of great muscular 

 strength, and the color of their skin was some- 

 thing between a brown and a copper color. 

 Seen at a distance, motionless in their attitudes, 

 and projected on the horizon, they might have 

 been taken for statues of bronze. We were so 

 much the more struck with this aspect, as it did 

 not correspond with the ideas we had formed 

 from the accounts of travellers of the character- 

 istic features and extreme weakness of the na- 

 tives. We afterward learnt without passing the 

 limits of the province of Cumana, the great con- 

 trast that exists between the physiognomy of the 

 Guayquerias and that of the Chaymas and the 



