289 



the oral relations, which they had been able to 

 collect. 



These marvels disappear, if we examine the 

 recital, which Ferdinand Columbus * drew from 

 his father's papers. There we find simply, that 

 "the admiral was surprised to seethe inhabitants 

 of Paria, and those of the Island of Trinidad, 

 better made, more civilized, (de buena conver- 

 sation J and whiter, than the natives which he 

 had till then seen." This certainly did not 

 mean, that the Pariagotoes are white. The less 

 dark colour of the skin of the natives, and the 

 great coolness of the mornings on the coast of 

 Paria, seemed to confirm the fantastic hypothe- 



" Incolas omnes genu tenus mares, foeminas surarum tenus, 

 gossampinis vestibus amictos simplieibus repereruat ; sed 

 viros more Turcarum insuto minutim gossipio ad belli usum 

 duplicibus." (Pet. Martyr, Dec. ii, Lib. vii, p. 183.) Who 

 were these people more civilized, clothed with tunics as on 

 the summit of the Andes, and observed on a coast, where 

 before and since the time of Pinzon only naked men have 

 ever been seen ? 



* Churchill's Collection, vol. ii, p. 584 and 686. Herrera 

 p. 80, 83, 84. Munoz, Hist, nel NuevoMundo, vol. i, p. 289. 

 " El color era bazo como es regular en los Indios, pero 

 mas claro que en las islas reconocidas," The missionaries 

 are accustomed to call those Indians, that are less black, less 

 tawny, whitish, and even almost white, (Gumilla, Hist de 

 rOrenoque, vol. i, chap, v, § 2). These improper expres- 

 sions may mislead those, who are not accustomed to the ex- 

 aggerations, in which travellers often indulge themselves. 



VOL. III. U 



