Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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The Guayquerias Belong To That Tribe Of Civilized Indians Who
Inhabit The Coasts Of Margareta And The Suburbs Of The City Of
Cumana.
Next to the Caribs of Spanish Guiana they are the finest
race of men in Terra Firma.
They enjoy several privileges, because
from the earliest times of the conquest they remained faithful
friends to the Castilians. The king of Spain styles them in his
public acts, "his dear, noble, and loyal Guayquerias." The Indians
of the two canoes we had met had left the port of Cumana during the
night. They were going in search of timber to the forests of cedar
(Cedrela odorata, Linn.), which extend from Cape San Jose to beyond
the mouth of Rio Carupano. They gave us some fresh cocoa-nuts, and
very beautifully coloured fish of the Chaetodon genus. What riches
to our eyes were contained in the canoes of these poor Indians!
Broad spreading leaves of Vijao* (* Heliconia bihai.) covered
bunches of plantains. The scaly cuirass of an armadillo (Dasypus),
the fruit of the Calabash tree (Crescentia cujete), used as a cup
by the natives, productions common in the cabinets of Europe, had a
peculiar charm for us, because they reminded us that, having
reached the torrid zone, we had attained the end to which our
wishes had been so long directed.
The master of one of the canoes offered to remain on board the
Pizarro as coasting pilot (practico). He was a Guayqueria of an
excellent disposition, sagacious in his observations, and he had
been led by intelligent curiosity to notice the productions of the
sea as well as the plants of the country.
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