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 Indians Would Not Hazard Passing The
Cataract; And We Slept On A Very Incommodious Spot, On The Shelf Of A
Rock, With A Slope Of More Than Eighteen Degrees, And Of Which The
Crevices Sheltered A Swarm Of Bats.
We heard the cries of the jaguar
very near us during the whole night.
They were answered by our great
dog in lengthened howlings. I waited the appearance of the stars in
vain: the sky was exceedingly black; and the hoarse sounds of the
cascades of the Orinoco mingled with the rolling of the distant
thunder.
Early in the morning of the 13th April we passed the rapids of Tabaje,
and again disembarked. Father Zea, who accompanied us, desired to
perform mass in the new Mission of San Borja, established two years
before. We there found six houses inhabited by uncatechised Guahibos.
They differ in nothing from the wild Indians. Their eyes, which are
large and black, have more vivacity than those of the Indians who
inhabit the ancient missions. We in vain offered them brandy; they
would not even taste it. The faces of all the young girls were marked
with round black spots; like the patches by which the ladies of Europe
formerly imagined they set off the whiteness of their skins. The
bodies of the Guahibos were not painted. Several of them had beards,
of which they seemed proud; and, taking us by the chin, showed us by
signs, that they were made like us. Their shape was in general
slender. I was again struck, as I had been among the Salives and the
Macos, with the little uniformity of features to be found among the
Indians of the Orinoco. Their look is sad and gloomy; but neither
stern nor ferocious. Without having any notion of the practices of the
Christian religion, they behaved with the utmost decency at church.
The Indians love to exhibit themselves; and will submit temporarily to
any restraint or subjection, provided they are sure of drawing
attention. At the moment of the consecration, they made signs to one
another, to indicate beforehand that the priest was going to raise the
chalice to his lips. With the exception of this gesture, they remained
motionless and in imperturbable apathy.
The interest with which we examined these poor savages became perhaps
the cause of the destruction of the mission. Some among them, who
preferred a wandering life to the labours of agriculture, persuaded
the rest to return to the plains of the Meta. They told them, that the
white men would come back to San Borja, to take them away in the
boats, and sell them as poitos, or slaves, at Angostura. The Guahibos
awaited the news of our return from the Rio Negro by the Cassiquiare;
and when they heard that we were arrived at the first great cataract,
that of Atures, they all deserted, and fled to the savannahs that
border the Orinoco on the west. The Jesuit Fathers had already formed
a mission on this spot, and bearing the same name.
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