286 



contain the subterraneous fires, that on the brink 

 of burning craters the smell of petroleum is per- 

 ceived from time to time, and that the greater 

 part of the hot springs of America rise from 

 gneiss and micaceous schist. 



After having examined the environs of Mani- 

 quarez, we embarked at night in a fishing boat 

 for Cumana. Nothing is a better proof of the 

 calmness of the sea of these regions, than the 

 extreme smallness and wretched state of these 

 boats, which carry a very high saiU That we 

 chose as the least damaged was so leaky, that the 

 pilot's son was constantly employed in baling out 

 the water with a tutuma, or shell of the cres- 

 centia cujete (calebash). It often happens in the 

 gulf of Cariaco, and especially to the north of the 

 peninsula of Araya, that the canoes loaded with 

 cocoas are overset in sailing too near the wind, 

 and against the waves. These accidents are to 

 be dreaded only by passengers little accustom- 

 ed to swimming ; for if the canoe be managed 

 by an Indian fisherman and his son, the father 

 sets right the boat and empties it of water, 

 while the son swims about collecting the cocoa 

 nuts. In less than a quarter of an hour, the 

 canoe is again under sail, without a single com- 

 plaint on the part of the Indian, who meets the 

 accident with calm unshaken indifference. 



The inhabitants of Araya, whom we visited a 

 second time on returning from theOroonoko, did 



