BOOK II. 



CHAPTER IV. 



First abode at Cumana Banks of the 



Manzanares. 



We anchored opposite the mouth of the river 

 Manzanares on the 16th of July, at break of day; 

 but we could not land till very late in the morn- 

 ing, because we were obliged to wait the visit of 

 the officers of the port. Our eyes were fixed on 

 the groups of cocoa-trees that border the river, 

 and the trunks of which, more than sixty feet 

 high, towered over the landscape. The plain was 

 covered with tufts of cassias, capers, and those ar- 

 borescent mimosas, which, like the pine of Italy, 

 extend their branches in the form of an umbrella. 

 The pinnated leaves of the palms were conspi- 

 cuous on the azure of a sky, the clearness of 

 which was unsullied by any trace of vapors. 

 The Sun was ascending rapidly toward the 

 zenith. A dazzling light was spread through 

 the air, along the whitish hills strewed with 

 cylindric cactuses, and over a sea ever calm, 



