INDIAU FAMILIES. 
189 
castle ; but the muleteer, who served as our guide, was 
parched with thirst, and pressed us earnestly to return. 
He had long perceived that we had lost our way ; and as he 
hoped to work on our fears he continually warned us of the 
danger of tigers and rattlesnakes. Venomous reptiles are, 
indeed, very common near the castle of Araya; and two 
jaguars had been lately killed at the entrance of the village 
of Maniquarez. If we might judge from their skins, which 
were preserved, their size was not less than that of the In- 
dian tiger. We vainly represented to our guide that those 
animals did not attack men where the goats furnished them 
with abundant prey ; we were obliged to yield, and return. 
After having proceeded three quarters of an hour along a 
shore covered by the tide we were joined by the negro, who 
carried our provision. Uneasy at not seeing us arrive, he 
had come to meet us, and he led us through a wood of 
nopals to a hut inhabited by an Indian family. We were 
received with the cordial hospitality observed in this country 
among people of every tribe. The hut in which we slung 
our hammocks was very clean; and there we found fish, 
plantains, and what in the torrid zone is preferable to the 
most sumptuous food, excellent water. 
The next day at sunrise we found that the hut in whicli 
we had passed the night formed part of a group of small 
dwellings on the borders of the salt lake, the remains of a 
considerable village which had formerly stood near the castle. 
The ruins of a church were seen partly buried in the sand, 
and covered with brushwood. When, in 1762, to save the 
expense of the garrison, the castle of Araya was totally dis- 
mantled, the Indians and Mulattoes who were settled in 
the neighbourhood emigrated by degrees to Maniquarez, to 
Cariaco, and in the suburb of the (xuayquerias at Cumana. 
A small number, bound from affection to their native soil, 
remained in this wild and barren spot. These poor people 
live by catching fish, which are extremely abundant on the 
coast and the neighbouring shoals. They appear satisfied 
with their condition, and think it strange when they are 
asked why they have no gardens or culinary vegetables. 
Our gardens, they reply, are beyond the gulf; when we 
carry our fish to Cumana, we bring back plantains, cocoa 
nuts, and cassava. This system of economy, which favours 
