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 Denomination Guayqueria, Like The Words Peru And Peruvian, Owes
Its Origin To A Mere Mistake.
The companions of Christopher
Columbus, coasting along the island of Margareta, the northern
coast of which is still inhabited
By the noblest portion of the
Guayqueria nation,* (* The Guayquerias of La Banda del Norte
consider themselves as the most noble race, because they think they
are less mixed with the Chayma Indian, and other copper-coloured
races. They are distinguished from the Guayquerias of the continent
by their manner of pronouncing the Spanish language, which they
speak almost without separating their teeth. They show with pride
to Europeans the Punta de la Galera, or Galley's Point, (so called
on account of the vessel of Columbus having anchored there), and
the port of Manzanillo, where they first swore to the whites in
1498, that friendship which they have never betrayed, and which has
obtained for them, in court phraseology, the title of fieles,
loyal. - See above.) encountered a few natives who were harpooning
fish by throwing a pole tied to a cord, and terminating in an
extremely sharp point. They asked them in the Haiti language their
name; and the Indians, thinking that the question of the strangers
related to their harpoons, which were formed of the hard and heavy
wood of the Macana palm, answered guaike, guaike, which signifies
pointed pole. A striking difference at present exists between the
Guayquerias, a civilized tribe of skilled fishermen, and those
savage Guaraounos of the Orinoco, who suspend their habitations on
the trunks of the Moriche palm. The population of Cumana has been
singularly exaggerated, but according to the most authentic
registers it does not exceed 16,000 souls.
Probably the Indian suburb will by degrees extend as far as the
Embarcadero; the plain, which is not yet covered with houses or
huts, being more than 340 toises in length. The heat is somewhat
less oppressive on the side near the seashore, than in the old
town, where the reverberation of the calcareous soil, and the
proximity of the mountain of San Antonio, raise the temperature to
an excessive degree. In the suburb of the Guayquerias, the sea
breezes have free access; the soil is clayey, and, for that reason,
it is thought to be less exposed to violent shocks of earthquake,
than the houses at the foot of the rocks and hills on the right
bank of the Manzanares.
The shore near the mouth of the small river Santa Catalina is
bordered with mangrove trees,* but these mangroves are not
sufficiently spread to diminish the salubrity of the air of Cumana.
(* Rhizophora mangle. M. Bonpland found on the Plaga Chica the
Allionia incarnata, in the same place where the unfortunate
Loefling had discovered this new genus of Nyctagineae.) The soil of
the plain is in part destitute of vegetation, in part covered with
tufts of Sesuvium portulacastrum, Gomphrena flava, G. myrtifolia,
Talinum cuspidatum, T. cumanense, and Portulaca lanuginosa. Among
these herbaceous plants we find at intervals the Avicennia
tomentosa, the Scoparia dulcis, a frutescent mimosa with very
irritable leaves,* and particularly cassias, the number of which is
so great in South America, that we collected, in our travels, more
than thirty new species. (* The Spaniards designate by the name of
dormideras (sleeping plants), the small number of mimosas with
irritable leaves. We have increased this number by three species
previously unknown to botanists, namely, the Mimosa humilis of
Cumana, the M. pellita of the savannahs of Calabozo, and the M.
dormiens of the banks of the Apure.)
On leaving the Indian suburb, and ascending the river southward, we
found a grove of cactus, a delightful spot, shaded by tamarinds,
brazilettos, bombax, and other plants, remarkable for their leaves
and flowers. The soil here is rich in pasturage, and dairy-houses
built with reeds, are separated from each other by clumps of trees.
The milk remains fresh, when kept, not in the calabashes* of very
thick ligneous fibres (* These calabashes are made from the fruit
of the Crescentia cujete.), but in porous earthen vessels from
Maniquarez. A prejudice prevalent in northern countries had long
led me to believe, that cows, under the torrid zone, did not yield
rich milk; but my abode at Cumana, and especially an excursion
through the vast plains of Calabozo, covered with grasses, and
herbaceous sensitive plants, convinced me that the ruminating
animals of Europe become perfectly habituated to the hottest
climates, provided they find water and good nourishment. Milk is
excellent in the provinces of New Andalusia, Barcelona, and
Venezuela; and butter is better in the plains of the equinoctial
zone, than on the ridge of the Andes, where the Alpine plants,
enjoying in no season a sufficiently high temperature, are less
aromatic than on the Pyrenees, on the mountains of Estremadura, or
of Greece. As the inhabitants of Cumana prefer the coolness of the
sea breeze to the sight of vegetation, their favourite walk is the
open shore. The Spaniards, who in general have no great
predilection for trees, or for the warbling of birds, have
transported their tastes and their habits into the colonies. In
Terra Firma, Mexico, and Peru, it is rare to see a native plant a
tree, merely with the view of procuring shade; and if we except the
environs of the great capitals, walks bordered with trees are
almost unknown in those countries. The arid plain of Cumana
exhibits after violent showers an extraordinary phenomenon. The
earth, when drenched with rain, and heated again by the rays of the
sun, emits that musky odour which in the torrid zone, is common to
animals of very different classes, namely: to the jaguar, the small
species of tiger cat, the cabiai or thick-nosed tapir,* (* Cavia
capybara, Linn.; chiguire.) the galinazo vulture,* (* Vultur aura,
Linn., Zamuro, or Galinazo: the Brazilian vulture of Buffon. I
cannot reconcile myself to the adoption of names, which designate,
as belonging to a single country, animals common to a whole
continent.) the crocodile, the viper, and the rattlesnake.
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