“I discovered beyond the point which I called Punta de la Aguda, one of the most attractive countries in the world, and very densely populated.... Some of the natives immediately came in canoes to the ship to request me in the name of their king to come on land. When they saw that I paid no attention to them, they came in great numbers in their canoes to the ship, many of them wearing pieces of gold on their breasts, and some of them bracelets of pearls on their arms. When I saw these I was exceedingly pleased, and I made many inquiries to learn where the people found them. They informed me that they were obtained in the neighborhood and also at a place north of the country.... Desiring to get some pearls like those I had seen, I sent some men ashore for that purpose.... They related that when the boats reached the shore, two chiefs, whom they took for father and son, came to them from the throng of the people and conducted them to a very large house, at two springs, not round and tent-shaped as the other houses. In this house were many seats, on which they seated our men and themselves. They then caused bread to be brought with many kinds of fruit and various wines, both white and red, not made from grapes but apparently from different fruits.... The men were congregated at one end of the building and the women at the other. Great vexation was felt by both parties because they could not understand each other’s language, for they each desired to ask questions concerning their respective countries.” Columbus, describing that part of South America which he called Gracia, now known as Venezuela, and also referring to the Orinoco River pouring its flood of fresh water into the Gulf of Paria, which he called Golfo de las Perlas (Gulf of Pearls), remarks: “I think that if the mentioned river does not flow from the earthly paradise that it comes from a vast extent of land in the south, of which nothing hitherto has been known.” In the letter containing this information respecting South America the admiral speaks of sending to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, to whom the letter was addressed, a map of the country (_la pintura de la tierra_).[203] The channel between the island of Trinidad and the land of Gracia (which the natives called Paria), Columbus called la Boca de la Sierpe (the mouth of the Serpent). The fleet then sailed from the Gulf of Paria through its northern outlet, which Columbus called la Boca del Drago (the mouth of the Dragon), and passed by the cape which he called Cabo de las Conchas and the island which he named Margarita. “Although,” as Ferdinand Columbus remarks, “the admiral saw that the country of Paria extended much farther westward, nevertheless he says that from that time forward he could not give as good a description of it as he wished on account of his eyes being too much inflamed by constant watching. Therefore he was compelled to obtain the most of his information concerning it from the sailors and pilots.”[204]