Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
- Page 213 of 407 - First - Home
The Friars
Were In Hopes Of Tripling The Number In A Few Years.
We cannot help
remarking the uniform efforts for the cultivation of the soil which
are manifested in the policy of the monastic hierarchy.
Wherever
convents have not yet acquired wealth in the New Continent, as
formerly in Gaul, in Syria, and in the north of Europe, they
exercise a happy influence on the clearing of the ground and the
introduction of exotic vegetation. At Caripe, the conuco of the
community presents the appearance of an extensive and beautiful
garden. The natives are obliged to work in it every morning from
six to ten, and the alcaldes and alguazils of Indian race overlook
their labours. These men are looked upon as great state
functionaries, and they alone have the right of carrying a cane.
The selection of them depends on the superior of the convent. The
pedantic and silent gravity of the Indian alcaldes, their cold and
mysterious air, their love of appearing in form at church and in
the assemblies of the people, force a smile from Europeans. We were
not yet accustomed to these shades of the Indian character, which
we found the same at the Orinoco, in Mexico, and in Peru, among
people totally different in their manners and their language. The
alcaldes came daily to the convent, less to treat with the monks on
the affairs of the Mission, than under the pretence of inquiring
after the health of the newly-arrived travellers. As we gave them
brandy, their visits became more frequent than the monks desired.
That which confers most celebrity on the valley of Caripe, besides
the extraordinary coolness of its climate, is the great Cueva, or
Cavern of the Guacharo.* (* The province of Guacharucu, which
Delgado visited in 1534, in the expedition of Hieronimo de Ortal,
appears to have been situated south or south-east of Macarapana.
Has its name any connexion with those of the cavern and the bird?
or is this last of Spanish origin? (Laet Nova Orbis page 676).
Guacharo means in Castilian "one who cries and laments;" now the
bird of the cavern of Caripe, and the guacharaca (Phasianus
parraka) are very noisy birds.) In a country where the people love
the marvellous, a cavern which gives birth to a river, and is
inhabited by thousands of nocturnal birds, the fat of which is
employed in the Missions to dress food, is an everlasting object of
conversation and discussion. The cavern, which the natives call "a
mine of fat" is not in the valley of Caripe itself, but three short
leagues distant from the convent, in the direction of
west-south-west. It opens into a lateral valley, which terminates
at the Sierra del Guacharo.
We set out for the Sierra on the 18th of September, accompanied by
the alcaldes, or Indian magistrates, and the greater part of the
monks of the convent. A narrow path led us at first towards the
south, across a fine plain, covered with beautiful turf.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 213 of 407
Words from 110219 to 110722
of 211363