831 



of Trinidad, made his lieutenants explore the 

 mouths of the Oroonoko, principally those of 



in South America west of la Punta de la Galera (lat. 10° 50', 

 long. 63° 20'. See my Observ. Astr., vol. i, p. 39.) it is im- 

 portant to fix the attention of geographers on this point. The 

 following is the result of my researches : Columbus called the 

 south-east cape of the island Punta Galera, on account of the 

 form of a rock iC que desde lexos parecia galera que iba a la 

 vela." (History of the Admiral by his son Ferdinand Colum- 

 bus, in Churchill's Collection, vol. ii, p. 584. Herera, Dec. 

 1, p. 80.) We see clearly by the narrative of Columbus, that 

 from Punta de la Galera he sailed to the west and landed at a 

 low cape, which he calls Punta del Arenal - } this is our Punta 

 de Icacos. In this passage, near a place (Punta de la 

 Playa) where he stopped to take in water (perhaps at the 

 mouth of the Rio Erin), he saw to the south for the first time, 

 the continent of America, which he called Isla Santa. It was 

 therefore the eastern coast of the province of Cumana, to the 

 east of the Cano Macareo, near Punta Redonda, and not the 

 mountainous coast of Paria (Isla de Gracia of Columbus), 

 which was first discovered. Columbus relates, that, after 

 having anchored near the Isloto del Gallo, now called El 

 Soidado, and having passed the Boca de Sierpe, between 

 Punta del Arenal and the continent, he sailed to the north 

 through the Golfo de la Balena (G. de Paria, Golfo triste, 

 G. de las Perlas), and saw the Boca de Dragos in that direc- 

 tion. On the maps of La Cruz (1775) and of Caulin (1778) 

 the south-east cape of Trinidad (lat. 10° 9') has continued to 

 be named, as by Columbus, Punta Galera ; which is the 

 Punta Galeota of modern navigators. But already Hondius 

 in the maps of 1598, Herera (Description de los Indios, 

 1615), Sanson (map of 1669), D'Anville, and all the modern 

 English and French geographers, with the exception of Bonne 

 (in Jthe Atlas of Raynal), denote the north-east cape of the 



