87 



persons. They had learnt from the English 

 newspapers the object of my enterprise. I was 

 treated with great confidence, and the com- 

 mander gave me up his own stateroom. They 

 gave me at parting the astronomical Epheme- 

 rides for the years which I had not been able 

 to procure in France or Spain. I owe to captain 

 Gamier the observations I made on the satellites 

 beyond the equator, and feel it a duty to record 

 here the gratitude I feel for his kind offices. 

 Coming from the forests of Cassiquiare, and 

 having been confined during whole months tb 

 the narrow circle of missionary life, we felt a 

 soothing gratification at meeting for the first 

 time with men, who had sailed round the world, 

 and enlarged their ideas by the view of so varied 

 a spectacle. I quitted the English vessel with 

 impressions, which are not yet effaced from my 

 remembrance, and which led me to cherish still 

 more the career I had chosen. 



We continued our passage on the following 

 day, and were surprised at the depth of the 

 channels between the Caraecas Islands, where 

 the sloop manoeuvred, almost touching the 

 rocks. How much do these calcareous islets, of 

 which the form and direction recal to mind the 

 great catastrophe that separated them from the 

 main land, differ in their aspect from the vol- 

 canic archipelago on the north of Lancerota*, 



* See above, vol. i, p. 95, 



