The waters of the Manzanares river are very clear and do not resemble at all the Manzanares river in Madrid, made to seem even more narrow by its sumptuous bridge. It springs, like all the rivers of New Andalusia, from the llanos (plains) known as the plateaux of Jonoro, Amana and Guanipa. The construction of a dyke to irrigate the land has been several times proposed to the government, but without success for, despite the apparent sterility, the land is extremely productive wherever heat and humidity meet.

The view from Imposible is even more beautiful and extensive than that from the tableland of Quetepe. With our naked eyes we could easily pick out the flattened top of the Brigantín, whose exact geographic position must be verified, the landing-place and Cumanà outer harbor. The rocky coast of Araya stretched our before us. We were particularly struck by the extraordinary structure of the harbor known as Laguna Grande, or Laguna del Obispo. A vast basin, surrounded by high mountains, communicates with the Gulf of Cariaco via a narrow canal along which only one boat at a time may pass. With our eyes we traced the sinuosities of this arm of sea, which has dug a bed like a river between perpendicular rocks stripped of vegetation. This extraordinary view reminded us of the fantastic landscape that Leonardo da Vinci painted in the background of his famous portrait of Mona Lisa.