In Alfinger's time, having no boats to cross to the island,
the Spaniards mounted their horses,^ and, swimming over,

leader, his memory is held in execration for his bloodthirstinesa.
After enduring many hardships, and committing countless cruelties,
Alfinger was killed in battle in the valley of Chinacota, as he was
returning to Maracaibo with a considerable amount of spoil.
1 Tomando lengua.
" This feat was repeated by the Llaneros of General Paez, in
Venezuela, during the War of Independence. Seeing some Spanish
gunboats anchored in the Orinoco, he sent a regiment of cavalry
to take possession of them. These men, Llaneros from the great
plains upon the Orinoco, half centaurs and half canoemen, as much
at home in the water as on land, stripping themselves naked, leaped
on their barebacked horses, with their lances in their hands, and,
swimming out, attacked the gunboats with such ferocity that they
were forced to yield. A wondrous combat, with something classical
about it, that needs a painter to commemorate it properly.
GONZALO JIMENEZ DE QUESADA 35

put the place to sack. The chief escaped, and this had made
him wary, so his canoes had all been taken over and
secured. On this occasion, Quesada did not have to swim
his men across, for Captain Manjarr^s, with his brigantine
and caravel, covered the Spaniards' advance along a neck
of land from which they all could wade across.
Quesada, having found plenty of provisions in Tama-
lameque, decided to rest a while after his twelve days'
wandering in the wilds. Moreover, Tamalameque was the
farthest point to which any of the colonists from Santa
Marta had attained.
In front of him all was more absolutely wrapped in
mystery than is the remotest portion of the world to-day.
