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 Passed The Night As Usual, In The Open Air, Though In A Plantation,
The Proprietor Of Which Employed Himself In Hunting Tigers.
He wore
scarcely any clothing, and was of a dark brown complexion like a
Zambo.
This did not prevent his classing himself amongst the Whites.
He called his wife and his daughter, who were as naked as himself,
Dona Isabella and Dona Manuela. Without having ever quitted the banks
of the Apure, he took a lively interest in the news of
Madrid - enquiring eagerly respecting those never-ending wars, and
everything down yonder (todas las cosas de alla). He knew, he said,
that the king was soon to come and visit the grandees of the country
of Caracas, but he added with some pleasantry, as the people of the
court can eat only wheaten bread, they will never pass beyond the town
of Victoria, and we shall not see them here. I had brought with me a
chiguire, which I had intended to have roasted; but our host assured
us, that such Indian game was not food fit for nos otros caballeros
blancos, (white gentlemen like ourselves and him). Accordingly he
offered us some venison, which he had killed the day before with an
arrow, for he had neither powder nor fire-arms.
We supposed that a small wood of plantain-trees concealed from us the
hut of the farm; but this man, so proud of his nobility and the colour
of his skin, had not taken the trouble of constructing even an ajoupa,
or hut of palm-leaves.
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