From
That House, Which Was Believed To Be The Kings Palace, They Were Carried
To Another Belonging To His Son, Where The Same Kindness Was Shewn.
These
people were all in general whiter than any they had yet seen in the Indies,
with better aspects and shapes, having their hair cut short by their ears
after the Spanish fashion.
From them they learnt that the country was
named Paria, and that they would gladly be in amity with the Christians.
Thus they departed from them and returned to the ships.
Holding on his course westwards, the admiral found the depth of the water
gradually to lessen, till passing through five and four fathoms, they at
length had only two and a half at the ebb. The tide differed considerably
in this place from what it had been found at Trinidada; for whereas there
it ebbed and flowed three fathoms, here, at forty-five leagues to the
westward it only rose and fell one fathom. At Trinidada both during ebb
and flow, the current always ran west, whereas here the flood made to the
west, and the ebb returned to the east. At Trinidada the sea water was
brackish, while here it was sweet, almost like river water. Perceiving
this difference, and how little water they had, the admiral durst not
proceed any farther with his own ship, which being of 100 tons burthen,
required three fathoms water; he therefore came to anchor on the coast in
a very safe port, land-locked on all sides and shaped like a horse shoe.
From this place he sent on the little caravel called El Borreo, or the
Post, to discover if there were any passage westwards among these supposed
islands.
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