370 
APPBOACH TO CAPE CODEltA. 
scarcely rising above tlie grass, seem as it 'were, to lie upon 
a smooth bed of verdure. Within the tropics, the strength 
and luxury of vegetation give such a development to plants, 
that the smallest of the dicotyledonous family become 
shrubs. It would seem as if the liliaceous plants, mingling 
with the gratnina, assumed the place of the flowers of our 
meadows. Their form is indeed striking; they dazzle by 
the variety and splendour of their colours ; but being too 
high above the soil, they disturb that harmonious propor- 
tion which characterizes the plants of our European mea- 
dows. Nature has in every zone stamped on the landscape 
the peculiar type of beauty proper to the locality. 
We must not be surprised that fertile islands, so near 
Terra Firma, are not now inhabited. It was only at the 
early period of the discovery, and whilst the Caribbees, 
Chaymas, and Cumanagotos were still masters of the coast, 
that the Spaniards formed settlements at Cubagua and Mar- 
gareta. When the natives were subdued, or driven south- 
ward in the direction of the savannahs, the preference was 
given to settlements on the continent, where there was a 
choice of land, and where there were Indians, who might 
be treated like beasts of burden. Had the little islands 
of Tortuga, BlanquiUa, and Orchilla been situated in the 
group of the Antilles, they would not have remained with- 
out traces of cultivation. 
Vessels of heavy burthen pass between the main land 
and the most southern of the Piritu Islands. Being very 
low, their northern point is dreaded by pilots who near 
the coast in those latitudes. When we found ourselves 
to westward of tbs Morro of Barcelona, and the mouth 
of the river XTnare, the sea, till then calm, became agitated 
and rough in proportion as wc approached Cape Codera. 
The influence of that vast promontory is felt from afar, 
in that part of the Caribbean Sea. The length of the pas- 
sage from Cumana to La Guayra depends on the degree 
of ease or difficulty with which Cape Codera can be dou- 
bled. Beyond this cape the sea constantly runs so high, 
that we can scarcely believe we are near a coast where 
(from the point of Paria as far as Cape San Eoman) a 
gale of wind is never known. On the 20th of November 
it sunrise we were so far advanced, that we might expect 
