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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Though Extremely Busy About A Cow Which Was To Be
Killed Next Day, The Old Monk Received Us With Kindness,
And
permitted us to hang up our hammocks in a gallery of his house.
Seated, without doing anything, the greater
Part of the day, in an
armchair of red wood, he bitterly complained of what he called the
indolence and ignorance of his countrymen. Our missionary, however,
seemed well satisfied with his situation.
He treated the Indians with mildness; he beheld his Mission
prosper, and he praised with enthusiasm the waters, the bananas,
and the dairy-produce of the district. The sight of our
instruments, our books, and our dried plants, drew from him a
sarcastic smile; and he acknowledged, with the naivete peculiar to
the inhabitants of those countries, that of all the enjoyments of
life, without excepting sleep, none was comparable to the pleasure
of eating good beef (carne de vaca): thus does sensuality obtain an
ascendancy, where there is no occupation for the mind.
The mission of San Fernando was founded about the end of the 17th
century, near the junction of the small rivers of the Manzanares
and Lucasperez. A fire, which consumed the church and the huts of
the Indians, induced the Capuchins to build the village in its
present fine situation. The number of families is increased to one
hundred, and the missionary observed to us, that the custom of
marrying at thirteen or fourteen years of age contributes greatly
to this rapid increase of population.
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