70 
TUK EASTERN ELANOT, 
Chaptee XXVI. 
The Llanos del Pao, or eastern part of the Plains of Venezuela.— Mis- 
Mons of the Caribs.— Last visit to the Coast of Nueva Barcelona, 
Cumana, and Araya. 
XiGHT had set in when we crossed for the last time the 
bed of the Orinoco. We purposed to rest near the little 
tort ban Itafael, and on the following morning at daybreak 
to set out on our journey through the plains of Venezuela. 
JN early six weeks had elapsed since our arrival at Ano-ostura; 
and we earnestly wished to, reach the coast, with the view of 
nnding, at Cumana, or at Xueva Barcelona, a vessel in 
which we might embark for the island of Cuba, thence to 
proceed to Mexico. After the sulierings to which we had 
been exposed during several months, wMst sailing in small 
boats on rivers Rested by mosquitos, the idea of a sea- 
voyage was not without its charms. We had no idea of ever 
agam returning to South America. Sacrificing the Andes 
ot Pep to the Archipelago of the Philippines, (of which so 
little is known,) we adhered to our old plan of remaining a 
year in New Spain, then proceeding in a gaUeon from 
Acapulco to Manilla, and returning to Europe by way of 
Bassora and .Meppo. W e imagined that, when we had once 
lett the bpanish possessions in America, the fall of that mi- 
nist^ which had procured for us so many advanta<»es, 
coidd not be prejudicial to the execution of our enterpnse. 
Our mules were in waiting for us on the left bank of the 
Orinoco. The collection of plants, and the different geolo- 
gical senes, which we had brought from the Esmeralda and 
Jtio Negro, had greatly augmented our baggage; and, as it 
would have been dangerous to lose sight of our herbals, we 
expected to make a very slow journey across the Llanos. 
J.he heat was excessive, owing to the reverberation of the 
soil, which was almost everj^where destitute of vegetation; 
yet the centigrade thermometer during the day (in the 
shade) was only from thirty to thirty-four degrees, and 
tomg the night, from twenty-seven to twenty-eight degrees. 
Here, therefore, as almost eveiywhere within the tropics, it 
was less the absolute degree of heat, than its duration, that 
