Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 1).djvu/658

 though delighted with the beauty of the country, which was cultivated in many places, highly populous, and adorned with magnificent vegetation, he was greatly astonished to find the water fresh, and that it grew more and more so the further he proceeded. He had reached the broad Gulf of Paria at the season of the year when the rivers which empty themselves into it are swollen by rains, and pour forth such quantities of fresh water as to conquer the saltness of the ocean. Here the natives were of a superior class to any he had hitherto seen. Their canoes were large and light, with a cabin in the centre for the accommodation of the owner and his family. Many of the men wore collars and burnished plates about their necks, of an inferior description of gold, while some of the women had strings of pearls round their arms, which they intimated, by signs, were procured on the northern side of their sea-coast. Here, again, Columbus was treated with profound reverence, as if he and his crews were beings descended from heaven. The honour of a banquet of bread and of various fruits of excellent flavour, together with different kinds of beverage, prepared for him in the house of the cacique, was greatly enhanced by the intelligent demeanour and martial frankness of the people, who seemed every way worthy of the beautiful country they inhabited.

Imagining the coast of Paria to be an island, he resolved to circumnavigate it, and, with that object, left the place where he had received so much kindness, on the 10th of August, and continued coasting westward within the gulf, in the vain search of an outlet to the north. But, as his own vessel was too