248 



no confidence in the chronometrical result, be- 

 cause the difference of time amounted only to a 

 few seconds, and the gain of the watch on mean 

 time at Cumana could not be verified immediate- 

 ly after my return, but only four days later. 



The abundance of salt * contained in the pe- 

 ninsula of Araya was already known to Alonzo 

 Ninno~}~, when, following the steps of Columbus, 

 Ojeda, and Amerigo Vespucci, he visited these 

 countries in 1499. Though of all the people on 

 the Globe the natives of America are those who 

 consume the least salt, because they scarcely 

 eat any thing but vegetables, it nevertheless ap- 

 pears, that the Guayquerias already dug into the 

 clayey and muriatiferous soil of Punt a Arenas. 

 Even the brine-pits, which are now called new, 

 and which are situate at the extremity of Cape 

 Araya, had been worked at very early periods. 

 The Spaniards settled at first at Cubagua, and 

 soon after on the coasts of Cumana, worked from 

 the beginning of the sixteenth century the salt 

 marshes, which stretch away in the form of a 

 mere to the north of Cerro de la Vela. As at 

 that period the peninsula of Araya had no settled 

 population, the Dutch availed themselves of the 

 natural riches of a soil, which appeared a pro- 

 perty common to all nations. In our days, each 



* Muriat of soda. 

 + Caulin, Hist, chorografica, p. 123. 



