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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Northward, Near The Shore,
The Isla De Cura; On The South-East, Burro, Horno, Otama, Sorro,
Caiguira, Nuevos Penones, Or The Aparecidos; On The North-West, Cabo
Blanco, Or Isla De Aves, And Chamberg; On The South-West, Brucha And
Culebra.
In the centre of the lake rise, like shoals or small detached
rocks, Vagre, Fraile, Penasco, and Pan de Azucar.) They are partly
cultivated, and extremely fertile on account of the vapours that rise
from the lake.
Burro, the largest of these islands, is two miles in
length, and is inhabited by some families of mestizos, who rear goats.
These simple people seldom visit the shore of Mocundo. To them the
lake appears of immense extent; they have plantains, cassava, milk,
and a little fish. A hut constructed of reeds; hammocks woven from the
cotton which the neighbouring fields produce; a large stone on which
the fire is made; the ligneous fruit of the tutuma (the calabash) in
which they draw water, constitute their domestic establishment. An old
mestizo who offered us some goat's milk had a beautiful daughter. We
learned from our guide, that solitude had rendered him as mistrustful
as he might perhaps have been made by the society of men. The day
before our arrival, some hunters had visited the island. They were
overtaken by the shades of night; and preferred sleeping in the open
air to returning to Mocundo. This news spread alarm throughout the
island. The father obliged the young girl to climb up a very lofty
zamang or acacia, which grew in the plain at some distance from the
hut, while he stretched himself at the foot of the tree, and did not
permit his daughter to descend till the hunters had departed.
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