Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 2 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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We Did Not Then Think That We Should Afterwards Be Forced,
During Whole Months, To Have Recourse To This Expedient.
The waters of
the Orinoco are always loaded with earthy particles; they are even
putrid, where dead bodies of alligators are found in the creeks, lying
on banks of sand, or half-buried in the mud.
No sooner were our instruments unloaded and safely placed, than our
mules were set at liberty to go, as they say here, para buscar agua,
that is, "to search for water." There are little pools round the farm,
which the animals find, guided by their instinct, by the view of some
scattered tufts of mauritia, and by the sensation of humid coolness,
caused by little currents of air amid an atmosphere which to us
appears calm and tranquil. When the pools of water are far distant,
and the people of the farm are too lazy to lead the cattle to these
natural watering-places, they confine them during five or six hours in
a very hot stable before they let them loose. Excess of thirst then
augments their sagacity, sharpening as it were their senses and their
instinct. No sooner is the stable opened, than the horses and mules,
especially the latter (for the penetration of these animals exceeds
the intelligence of the horses), rush into the savannahs. With
upraised tails and heads thrown back they run against the wind,
stopping from time to time as if exploring space; they follow less the
impressions of sight than of smell; and at length announce, by
prolonged neighings, that there is water in the direction of their
course.
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