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LIFE A N D VOYAGES OF
[BOOK
X.
There were great numbers also of mangroves growing within the water, with oysters clinging to their branches, their mouths open, as he supposed, to receive the dew, which was afterwards to be transformed to pearls.* On the following morning, the 14th of August, towards noon, the ships approached the Boca del Dragon, and prepared to ven ture through that formidable pass. The distance from Cape Boto at the end of Paria, and Cape Lapa the extremity of Trinidad, is about five leagues ; but in the interval there were two islands, which Columbus named Caracol and Delphin. The impetuous body of fresh water which flows through the gulf, particularly in the rainy months of July and August, is confined at the narrow outlets between these islands, where it causes a turbulent sea, foaming and roaring as if breaking over rocks, and rendering the entrance and exit of the gulf extremely dangerous. The horrors and perils of such places are always tenfold to discoverers, who have no chart, nor pilot, nor advice of previous voyager, to guide them. Columbus, at first, apprehended sunken rocks and shoals ; but on attentively considering the commotion of the strait, he attributed it to the conflict between the prodigious body of fresh water setting through the gulf and struggling for an outlet, and the tide of salt water struggling to enter. The ships had scarcely ventured into the fearful channel when the wind died away, and they were in danger every moment of being thrown upon the rocks or sands. The current of fresh water, however, gained the victory, and carried them safely through. The admiral, when once more safe in the open sea, congratulated himself upon his escape from this perilous strait, which, he observes, might well be called the Mouth of the Dragon.† * Herrera, Hist. Ind., decad. i. lib. iii. cap. 10.
†Ibid., cap. 11.