Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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The Master Of One Of The Canoes Offered To Remain On Board The
Pizarro As Coasting Pilot (Practico).
He was a Guayqueria of an
excellent disposition, sagacious in his observations, and he had
been led by intelligent curiosity to notice the productions of the
sea as well as the plants of the country.
By a fortunate chance,
the first Indian we met on our arrival was the man whose
acquaintance became the most useful to us in the course of our
researches. I feel a pleasure in recording in this itinerary the
name of Carlos del Pino, who, during the space of sixteen months,
attended us in our course along the coasts, and into the inland
country.
The captain of the corvette weighed anchor towards evening. Before
we left the shoal or placer of Coche, I ascertained the longitude
of the east cape of the island, which I found to be 66 degrees 11
minutes 53 seconds. As we steered westward, we soon came in sight
of the little island of Cubagua, now entirely deserted, but formerly
celebrated for its fishery of pearls. There the Spaniards,
immediately after the voyages of Columbus and Ojeda, founded, under
the name of New Cadiz, a town, of which there now remains no
vestige. At the beginning of the sixteenth century the pearls of
Cubagua were known at Seville, at Toledo, and at the great fairs of
Augsburg and Bruges. New Cadiz having no water, that of the Rio
Manzanares was conveyed thither from the neighbouring coast, though
for some reason, I know not what, it was thought to be the cause of
diseases of the eyes. The writers of that period all speak of the
riches of the first planters, and the luxury they displayed. At
present, downs of shifting sand cover this uninhabited land, and
the name of Cubagua is scarcely found in our charts.
Having reached these latitudes, we saw the high mountains of Cape
Macanao, on the western side of the island of Margareta, which rose
majestically on the horizon. If we might judge from the angles of
altitude of the tops, taken at eighteen miles' distance, they
appeared to be about 500 or 600 toises high. According to
Berthoud's time-keeper, the longitude of Cape Macanao is 66 degrees
47 minutes 5 seconds. I speak of the rocks at the extremity of the
cape, and not that strip of very low land which stretches to the
west, and loses itself in a shoal. The position of Macanao and that
which I have assigned to the east point of the island of Coche,
differ only four seconds in time, from the results obtained by
M. Fidalgo.
There being little wind, the captain preferred standing off and on
till daybreak. We passed a part of the night on deck. The
Guayqueria pilot conversed with us respecting the animals and
plants of his country. We learned with great satisfaction that
there was, a few leagues from the coast, a mountainous region
inhabited by the Spaniards, in which the cold was sensibly felt;
and that in the plains there were two species of crocodiles, very
different from each other, besides, boas, electric eels, and
several kinds of tigers.
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