279 



dred feet square, which have scarcely a crack 

 in them. Our guide showed us a cistern (el al- 

 jibe) thirty feet deep, which, though much da- 

 maged, furnishes water to the inhabitants of the 

 peninsula of Araya. This cistern was finished 

 in 1681, by the governor Don Juan de Padilla 

 Guardiola, the same who built at Cumana the 

 small fort of Santa Maria # . As the basin is 

 covered with an arched vault, the water, which 

 is of an excellent quality keeps very cool, and 

 has no conferva, which, while it decomposes the 

 carburet of hydrogen, harbours worms and small 

 insects. It had been believed for ages, that the 

 peninsula of Araya was entirely destitute of 

 springs of fresh water ; but in 1797, after many 

 useless researches, the inhabitants of Maniquarez 

 succeeded in discovering some. 



In crossing the arid hills of Cape Cirial, we 

 perceived a strong smell of petroleum. The wind 

 blew from the side where the springs of this sub- 

 stance are found, and which were mentioned by 

 the first historians of these countries ^. Near 

 the village of Maniquarez, the mica-slate % comes 

 out from below the secondary rock, forming a 

 chain of mountains from one hundred and fifty 



* Castillo de Santa Maria, or Fuerte de N. S. de la Ca- 

 beza. See above, page 188. (Caulin, p. 284.) 



% Oviedo, Lib. 19, cap. 1. " Resinous, aromatic, and 

 medicinal liquor." 



% Piedra pelada of the Creoles. 



