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and it is asked, why the pearls found at present 

 in shells which are entangled* in the fishermen's 

 nets are so small, and have so little brilliancy, 

 while on the arrival of the Spaniards they were 

 so extremely beautiful among the Indians, who 

 doubtless had not given themselves the trouble of 

 diving to collect them. The problem is so much 

 the more difficult to solve, as we are ignorant 

 whether earthquakes have altered the nature of 

 the bottom of the sea, or whether the changes of 

 the submarine currents may have had an influ- 

 ence either on the temperatue of the water, or 

 on the abundance of certain molluscse on which 

 the aronde feeds. 



On the 20th in the morning, our host's son, 

 a young and very robust Indian, conducted us 

 over Barigon and Caney to the village of Ma- 

 niquarez, which was four hours walk. From 

 the effect of the reverberation of the sands, the 

 thermometer kept up to 31° 3'. The cylindric 

 cactus, which bordered the road, gave the land- 

 scape an appearance of verdure, without yield- 

 ing either coolness or shade. Before our guide 

 had travelled a league, he sat himself down at 

 every instant, and wished to repose under the 

 shade of a fine tamarind tree near Casas de 

 la Vela, to wait the approach of the night. I 



* The inhabitants of A raja sometimes sell these small 

 pearls to the retail dealers of Cumana. The ordinary price 

 is a piastre a dozen. 



