I 



247 



the English, Dutch, and other maritime pow- 

 ers, has not given rise to a village, or even a 

 farm; a few huts only of poor Indian fisher- 

 men are found at the extremity of the point of 

 Araya. 



We see at the same time, from this spot, the 

 islet of Cubagua, the lofty hills of Margaretta, 

 the ruins of the castle of St. Jago, the Cerro de 

 la Vela, and the calcareous chain of the Ber- 

 gantin, which bounds the horizon toward the 

 south. I availed mvself of this view, to take 

 the angles between these different points, from 

 a basis of four hundred toises, which I measur- 

 ed between the battery and the hill called the 

 Penna. As the Cerro de la Vela, Bergantin, and 

 the castle of St. Antonio at Cumana, are equally 

 visible from the Punta Arenas, situate to the 

 west of the village of Maniquarez, the same objects 

 were employed for an approximate determina- 

 tion of the respective positions of several points, 

 which are laid down in the mineralogical chart 

 of the peninsula of Araya. It follows from these 

 data, that the mere of the old salt-works is nearly 

 in 10° 33'. The difference of longitude between 

 Cumana and the new salt-works is, according to 

 Mr. Fidalgo, 5' 34". I found the same difference 

 by the time-keeper*. The horary angles were ex- 

 act to three or four seconds nearly ; but I have 



* Astron. Observ. vol. \ 9 p. 6, No. 17. 



