unhealthful;* (* In the West India Islands all the dreadful maladies
which prevail during the wintry season, have been for a long time
attributed to the south winds. These winds convey the emanations of
the mouths of the Orinoco and of the small rivers of Terra Firma
toward the high latitudes.) they believe that the insalubrity of the
air is owing to the fresh water, that is, to the overflowings of the
Guayguaza and Estevan, the swell of which is so great and sudden in
the months of October and November. The banks of the Rio Estevan have
been less insalubrious since little plantations of maize and plantains
have been established; and, by raising and hardening the ground, the
river has been confined within narrower limits. A plan is formed of
giving another issue to the Rio San Estevan, and thus to render the
environs of Porto Cabello more wholesome. A canal is to lead the
waters toward that part of the coast which is opposite the island of
Guayguaza.

The salt-works of Porto Cabello somewhat resemble those of the
peninsula of Araya, near Cumana. The earth, however, which they
lixivate by collecting the rain-water into small basins, contains less
salt. It is questioned here, as at Cumana, whether the ground be
impregnated with saline particles because it has been for ages covered
at intervals with sea-water evaporated by the heat of the sun, or
whether the soil be muriatiferous, as in a mine very poor in native
salt. I had not leisure to examine this plain with the same attention
as the peninsula of Araya. Besides, does not this problem reduce
itself to the simple question, whether the salt be owing to new or
very ancient inundations? The labouring at the salt-works of Porto
Cabello being extremely unhealthy, the poorest men alone engage in it.
They collect the salt in little stores, and afterwards sell it to the
shopkeepers in the town.