THE PEARL COAST.

The admiral's course, when he was going northwards, had been in the
direction of the Carib islands, already well known to him; but with great
delight he now turned towards Trinidad, making for a cape which, from the
likeness of a little rocky islet near it to a galley in full sail, he
named "La Galera." [17] There he arrived "at the hour of complines," but,
not finding the port sufficiently deep for his vessels to enter, he
proceeded westwards.

[Footnote 17: This point is sometimes placed at the north-east of
Trinidad; but wrongly so. It is now Cape Galeota.--See Humbolt's Examen
Critique, vol. i. p. 310.]

[Illustration: Map of THE PEARL COAST. From about 50 miles west of the
island of Margarita to just east of Trinidad and Tobago; from about 50
miles north of Grenada to 50 miles south of the Orinoco River.]


FIRST VIEW OF AMERICAN CONTINENT

The first thing noticeable as he neared these shores, was that the trees
grew well on the margin of the sea. There were houses and people,--and
very beautiful lands, which reminded him, from their beauty and their
verdure, of the gardens of Valencia as seen in the month of March. It was
also to be observed that these lands were well cultivated.

On the following morning he continued in a westerly direction in search of
a port, where he might take in water, and refit his ships, the timber of