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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We Stopped To Observe Some Howling Monkeys, Which, To The Number Of
Thirty Or Forty, Crossed The Road, Passing In A File From One Tree
To Another Over The Horizontal And Intersecting Branches.
While we
were observing their movements, we saw a troop of Indians going
towards the mountains of Caripe.
They were without clothing, as the
natives of this country generally are. The women, laden with rather
heavy burdens, closed the march. The men were all armed; and even
the youngest boys had bows and arrows. They moved on in silence,
with their eyes fixed on the ground. We endeavoured to learn from
them whether we were yet far from the Mission of Santa Cruz, where
we intended passing the night. We were overcome with fatigue, and
suffered from thirst. The heat increased as the storm drew near,
and we had not met with a single spring on the way. The words si,
patre; no, patre; which the Indians continually repeated, led us to
think they understood a little Spanish. In the eyes of a native
every white man is a monk, a padre; for in the Missions the colour
of the skin characterizes the monk, more than the colour of the
garment. In vain we questioned them respecting the length of the
way: they answered, as if by chance, si and no, without our being
able to attach any precise sense to their replies. This made us the
more impatient, as their smiles and gestures indicated their wish
to direct us; and the forest seemed at every step to become thicker
and thicker.
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