i 189 



The lofty summits of the island of Margaretta* 

 present themselves above the rocky coast of the 

 isthmus of Araya : toward the west, the small 

 islands of Caraccas, Picuita, and Boracha, recall 

 to mind the catastrophes, that have overwhelm- 

 ed the coasts of Terra Firma. These islets 

 bear the resemblance of fortifications, and from 

 the effect of the mirage, while the inferior strata 

 of the air, the ocean, and the soil, are unequally 

 heated by the Sun, their points appear raised 

 like the extremity of the great promontories of 

 the coast. It is pleasing, during the day, to 

 follow these inconstant phenomena*^; we see, 

 as the night approaches, these stony masses, 

 that had been suspended in the air, settle them- 

 selves on their bases; and the luminary, the 

 presence of which vivifies organic nature, seems 

 by the variable inflection of it's rays, to impress 

 motion on the stable rock, and give an undulat- 

 ing movement to plains covered with arid 

 sands. 



The city of Cumana, properly speaking, oc- 

 cupies the ground that lies between the castle 

 of St. Antonio, and the small rivers of Manza- 

 nares and Santa Catalina. The Delta, formed 



* The promontory of Macanao. 

 | The real cause of the mirage, or the extraordinary re- 

 fraction which the rays undergo, when strata of air of dif- 

 ferent densities are placed on each other, had already been 

 suspected by Hooke. See his Posthumous Works, p. 472. 



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