i'LATS OS THE JAUDIKXILOS. 
loa 
at 26'8°; tlie temperature exceeded 4'2° that which xye 
Had found near the breakers of Diego Perez. At the dis- 
tance of half a mile from the coast, the sea water was not 
more than 2'6° ; we had no opportunity of sounding, but 
the depth of the water had no doubt diminished. On the 
I4th March, we entered the Eio Guaurabo, one of the two 
ports of Trinidad de Cuba, to put on shore the practieo, or 
pilot of Batabano, who had steered us across the flats 
of the JardiniUus, though not without causing us to run 
aground several times. Me also hoped to tlnd a packet- 
Hoat (correo maritimo) in this port, which would take us 
lo Carthagena. 1 lauded towards the evening, and placed 
Borda’s azimuth compass and the artificial horizon, on the 
sphere, for the purpose of observing the passage of some 
stars by the meridian ; luit wc had scarcely begun onr 
preparations, when a party of small traders ot the class 
called pulperos, who had dined on board a foreign shi]) 
recently arrived, invited ns to accompany them to the tow n . 
These good people requested us mount two by two on the 
same horse ; and, as the heat was excessive, we accepted 
their offer. The distance from tho mouth of the Bio Guau- 
rabo to Trinidad, is nearly four miles, in a north-west 
direction. The road runs across a plain which seems as 
if it had been levelled by a long sojourn of the waters. It 
is covered with vegetation, to which the miragiiama, a pmm- 
tree with silvered leaves (which we saw' here for the first 
time), gives a peculiar character.* This fertile soil, although 
of tierra colm'ada, requires only to be tilled, and it would 
yield fruitful harvests. A very picturesque view opens 
'vestward on the Lomas of San Juan, a chain oi calcareous 
mountains from 1800 to 2000 toises high, and very steep 
towards the south. Their bare and barren summits form 
sometimes round blocks ; and here and there rise up in points 
* Corjpha mivaguama. Probably the same species which struck 
^lessrs. John and William Fraser (father and son), in the vicinity of 
Matanzas. Those two botanists, who introduced a great munhey of 
niluable plants to the gardens of Europe, were shipwrecked on their 
voyage to the llavanniih from the United States, ar^ sale erase les 
" 'th difficulty on the cayos at the entrance of the Old Channel, a few 
before my departure for Carthagena, 
