204 



We did not quit the farm of Pericantral till 

 after sunset. The south coast of the Gulf, co- 

 vered with a rich vegetation, presents the most 

 agreeable aspect, while the northern coast is 

 naked, dry, and rocky. In spite of this aridity, 

 and the failure of rain, which is sometimes felt 

 for fifteen months*, the peninsula of Araya, like 

 the desert of Canound in India, produces patil- 

 las, or water melons, that weigh from fifty to 

 seventy pounds. Under the torrid zone, the 

 vapors contained by the air form about nine 

 tenths of the quantity necessary to it's satura- 

 tion ; and vegetation is maintained by the ad- 

 fruit in a neighbouring town, near eight piastres a year; 

 a bixa [annotta tree] or a pomegranate tree yields only one 

 piastre. The pomegranate is much sought after on account 

 of the refreshing juice of it's fruit, which is preferred to 

 those of the passiflora or parcha. 



* The rains appear to have been more frequent at the be- 

 ginning of the 16th century. At least the Canon of Gra- 

 nada, Petrus Martyr d'singhiera (De Reb, Ocean., Colonise, 

 1574, p. 93) , speaking of the salt-works of Araya, or of 

 Haraia, which we have described in the fifth Chapter, men- 

 tions showers (cadentes im res) as a very common phenome- 

 non. The same author, who died in 1526 (Cancelieri, 

 Notizie di Columbo, p. 212), affirms, that the Indians 

 wrought the salt-works before the arrival of the Spaniards. 

 They dried the salt in form of bricks, and Petrus Martyr 

 even then discussed the geological question, whether the 

 clayey soil of Haraia contained salt springs, or whether it 

 had been impregnated with salt by the periodical inundations 

 of the ocean for ages. 



