gave to it the name of Boca del Sierpe--the Serpent's
Mouth. He feared that the current from the east would prevent his
return, while his ships might be lost on the supposed rocks, should he
attempt a passage.

That night, while kept awake by his illness, he heard a terrible roaring
from the south, and beheld the sea heaped up and covered with foam, like
a huge watery ridge the height of the ships, rolling towards them. As
this furious surge approached, rendered more terrible in appearance by
the obscurity of night, he trembled for the safety of his vessels. His
own ship was lifted up to such a height that he feared she would be
overturned, while another was torn from her anchorage. The crews
expected to be swallowed up, but the surge passed on and gradually
subsided.

Early in the morning he sent the boats to sound the water at the
Serpent's Mouth, and to his great joy several fathoms were found; the
currents and tides setting both ways, either to enter or return. A
favourable breeze springing up, he entered the tranquil expanse between
Trinidad and the mainland of Paria, and, to his great surprise, he here
found the water fresh.

He continued northward towards a mountain at the north-west point of the
island, and here beheld two lofty capes, one projecting from the island
of Trinidad, the other at the end of the long promontory of Paria,
which, supposing it to be an island, he named Isla de Gracia. Between
these capes was another channel beset with rocks, among which the
current forced its way with roaring turbulence, to which he gave the
name of Boca del Dragon.

Not wishing to encounter it, he steered along the inner side of the
promontory, round which, fancying that it was an island, he expected to
get, and then to be able to strike northward for Hispaniola.

The country appeared to be cultivated in some places, and in others
covered with fruit-trees and plants, and abounding with monkeys. He
was, however, greatly astonished at finding the water still fresh, and
that it became more and more so the farther he proceeded. It was that
season, however, when the rivers which empty themselves into the Gulf of
Paria are swollen by rains. He was surprised also at the calmness of
the sea, not being aware that the only two entrances were by the
Serpent's and Dragon's Mouths into this large expanse of water.

For some time no inhabitants were met with. At length the ships brought
up at the mouth of the river,