100 



same doubts respecting the nature of this light* 

 as with regard to that of the tail of comets. Is 

 it in fact a reflected, or a direct light ? It is to 

 be hoped, that philosophical travellers, who may- 

 visit the Equinoctial regions, will provide them- 

 selves with instruments of polarization, calcu- 

 lated to solve this important question. 



We left the plantation of Manterola on the 

 11th of February, at sunrise. The road fol- 

 lows the smiling banks of the Tuy ; the morning 

 was cool and humid, and the air seemed em- 

 balmed by the delicious odour of the pancratium 

 undulatum, and other large liliaceous plants. 

 In our way to La Victoria, we passed the pretty 

 village of Mamon, or of Consejo, celebrated in 

 the country for a miraculous image of the 

 Virgin. A little before we reached Mamon, we 

 istopped at a farm belonging to the family of 

 Monteras. A negress more than a hundred years 

 old was seated before a small hut, constructed 

 with earth and reeds. Her age was known, 

 because she was a Creole slave. She seemed still 

 to enjoy very good health. " I hold her to the 

 Sun" (la tengo al sol), said her grand-son ; "the 

 heat keeps her alive." The means appeared to 

 us rather violent, for the Sun darted it's rays 

 almost perpendicularly. The nations with a 

 brown skin, Blacks well seasoned, and Indians,,, 

 attain a happy old age in the torrid zone. I have 



