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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The Caribs, A Trading And Warlike
People, Received From The Portuguese And The Dutch, Knives,
Fish-Hooks, Small Mirrors, And All Sorts Of Glass Beads.
They excited
the Indian chiefs to make war against each other, bought their
prisoners, and carried off, themselves, by stratagem or force, all
whom they found in their way.
These incursions of the Caribs
comprehended an immense extent of land; they went from the banks of
the Essequibo and the Carony, by the Rupunuri and the Paraguamuzi on
one side, directly south towards the Rio Branco; and on the other, to
the south-west, following the portages between the Rio Paragua, the
Caura, and the Ventuario. The Caribs, when they arrived amid the
numerous tribes of the Upper Orinoco, divided themselves into several
bands, in order to reach, by the Cassiquiare, the Cababury, the
Itinivini, and the Atabapo, on a great many points at once, the banks
of the Guiainia or Rio Negro, and carry on the slave-trade with the
Portuguese. Thus the unhappy natives, before they came into immediate
contact with the Europeans, suffered from their proximity. The same
causes produce everywhere the same effects. The barbarous trade which
civilized nations have carried on, and still partially continue, on
the coast of Africa, extends its fatal influence even to regions where
the existence of white men is unknown.
Having quitted the mouth of the Conorichite and the mission of Davipe,
we reached at sunset the island of Dapa, lying in the middle of the
river, and very picturesquely situated. We were astonished to find on
this spot some cultivated ground, and on the top of a small hill an
Indian hut. Four natives were seated round a fire of brushwood, and
they were eating a sort of white paste with black spots, which much
excited our curiosity. These black spots proved to be vachacos, large
ants, the hinder parts of which resemble a lump of grease. They had
been dried, and blackened by smoke. We saw several bags of them
suspended above the fire. These good people paid but little attention
to us; yet there were more than fourteen persons in this confined hut,
lying naked in hammocks hung one above another. When Father Zea
arrived, he was received with great demonstrations of joy. The
military are in greater numbers on the banks of the Rio Negro than on
those of the Orinoco, owing to the necessity of guarding the
frontiers; and wherever soldiers and monks dispute for power over the
Indians, the latter are most attached to the monks. Two young women
came down from their hammocks, to prepare for us cakes of cassava. In
answer to some enquiries which we put to them through an interpreter,
they answered that cassava grew poorly on the island, but that it was
a good land for ants, and food was not wanting. In fact, these
vachacos furnish subsistence to the Indians of the Rio Negro and the
Guainia. They do not eat the ants as a luxury, but because, according
to the expression of the missionaries, the fat of ants (the white part
of the abdomen) is a very substantial food. When the cakes of cassava
were prepared, Father Zea, whose fever seemed rather to sharpen than
to enfeeble his appetite, ordered a little bag to be brought to him
filled with smoked vachacos. He mixed these bruised insects with flour
of cassava, which he pressed us to taste. It somewhat resembled rancid
butter mixed with crumb of bread. The cassava had not an acid taste,
but some remains of European prejudices prevented our joining in the
praises bestowed by the good missionary on what he called an excellent
ant paste.
The violence of the rain obliged us to sleep in this crowded hut. The
Indians slept only from eight till two in the morning; the rest of the
time they employed in conversing in their hammocks, and preparing
their bitter beverage of cupana. They threw fresh fuel on the fire,
and complained of cold, although the temperature of the air was at 21
degrees. This custom of being awake, and even on foot, four or five
hours before sunrise, is general among the Indians of Guiana. When, in
the entradas, an attempt is made to surprise the natives, the hours
chosen are those of the first sleep, from nine till midnight.
We left the island of Dapa long before daybreak; and notwithstanding
the rapidity of the current, and the activity of our rowers, our
passage to the fort of San Carlos del Rio Negro occupied twelve hours.
We passed, on the left, the mouth of the Cassiquiare, and, on the
right, the small island of Cumarai. The fort is believed in the
country to be on the equatorial line; but, according to the
observations which I made at the rocks of Culimacari, it is in 1
degree 54 minutes 11 seconds.
We lodged at San Carlos with the commander of the fort, a lieutenant
of militia. From a gallery in the upper part of the house we enjoyed a
delightful view of three islands of great length, and covered with
thick vegetation. The river runs in a straight line from north to
south, as if its bed had been dug by the hand of man. The sky being
constantly cloudy gives these countries a solemn and gloomy character.
We found in the village a few juvia-trees which furnish the triangular
nuts called in Europe the almonds of the Amazon, or Brazil-nuts. We
have made it known by the name of Bertholletia excelsa. The trees
attain after eight years' growth the height of thirty feet.
The military establishment of this frontier consisted of seventeen
soldiers, ten of whom were detached for the security of the
neighbouring missions. Owing to the extreme humidity of the air there
are not four muskets in a condition to be fired. The Portuguese have
from twenty-five to thirty men, better clothed and armed, at the
little fort of San Jose de Maravitanos.
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