idada 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. She returned next day, the 11th of August, having gone but a
short distance, and reported, that at the western point of that sea there
was a mouth or opening two leagues over from north to south, and within it
a round bay, having four little bays, one towards each quarter of the
Heavens, into each of which a river flowed, which occasioned the water of
that sea to be so sweet, which was yet much sweeter farther in; and they
added, that all this land which they had considered as separate islands
was one and the same continent. They had everywhere in that interior bay
four or five fathoms water, which so abounded in those weeds they had seen
on the ocean as even to hinder their passage.

Being now certain that he could get no passage to the westwards, the
admiral stood back that same day to the east, designing to pass the Boca
del Drago, or that strait which he had seen between Trinidada and the land
called Paria by the Indians. In this strait there are four small islands
to the east, next that point of Trindada which he named Cabo de Boca, or
Cape Mouth, because it was blunt; and the western cape upon the continent
he called Cabo de Lapa. The reason why he gave this strait the name of the
Dragons Mouth, was because it was very dangerous, on account of the
prodigious quantity of fresh water which continually struggles to get out
that way into the open sea, and that the strait is divided into three
boisterous channels by intervening islands. While sailing through this
strait the wind failed, and he was in great danger of being drifted by the
raging current against some sand or rock; he gave it this name likewise as
corresponding with that he had before given to the other entrance into the
gulf of Paria, the Boca del Sierpe or Serpents Mouth, where he was