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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It
Is Said That Mothers Have Been Seen Removing Their Young From Their
Shoulders, And Throwing Them Down To The Foot Of The Tree.
I am
inclined to believe that a movement merely accidental has been
mistaken for one premeditated.
The Indians have a dislike and a
predilection for certain races of monkeys; they love the viuditas, the
titis, and generally all the little sagoins; while the araguatos, on
account of their mournful aspect, and their uniform howling, are at
once detested and abused. In reflecting on the causes that may
facilitate the propagation of sound in the air during the night, I
thought it important to determine with precision the distance at
which, especially in damp and stormy weather, the howling of a band of
araguatos is heard. I believe I obtained proof of its being
distinguished at eight hundred toises distance. The monkeys which are
furnished with four hands cannot make excursions in the Llanos; and it
is easy, amidst vast plains covered with grass, to recognize a
solitary group of trees, whence the noise proceeds, and which is
inhabited by howling monkeys. Now, by approaching or withdrawing from
this group of trees, the maximum of the distance may be measured, at
which the howling is heard. These distances appeared to me sometimes
one-third greater during the night, especially when the weather was
cloudy, very hot, and humid.
The Indians pretend that when the araguatos fill the forests with
their howling, there is always one that chaunts as leader of the
chorus. The observation is pretty accurate. During a long interval one
solitary and strong voice is generally distinguished, till its place
is taken by another voice of a different pitch. We may observe from
time to time the same instinct of imitation among frogs, and almost
all animals which live together and exert their voices in union. The
Missionaries further assert, that, when a female among the araguatos
is on the point of bringing forth, the choir suspends its howlings
till the moment of the birth of the young. I could not myself judge of
the accuracy of this assertion; but I do not believe it to be entirely
unfounded. I have observed that, when an extraordinary incident, the
moans for instance of a wounded araguato, fixed the attention of the
band, the howlings were for some minutes suspended. Our guides assured
us gravely, that, to cure an asthma, it is sufficient to drink out of
the bony drum of the hyoidal bone of the araguato. This animal having
so extraordinary a volume of voice, it is supposed that its larynx
must necessarily impart to the water poured into it the virtue of
curing affections of the lungs. Such is the science of the vulgar,
which sometimes resembles that of the ancients.
We passed the night at the village of Guigue, the latitude of which I
found by observations of Canopus to be 10 degrees 4 minutes 11
seconds. The village, surrounded with the richest cultivation, is only
a thousand toises distant from the lake of Tacarigua. We lodged with
an old sergeant, a native of Murcia, a man of a very original
character. To prove to us that he had studied among the Jesuits, he
recited the history of the creation of the world in Latin. He knew the
names of Augustus, Tiberius, and Diocletian; and while enjoying the
agreeable coolness of the nights in an enclosure planted with bananas,
he employed himself in reading all that related to the courts of the
Roman emperors. He inquired of us with earnestness for a remedy for
the gout, from which he suffered severely. "I know," said he, "a Zambo
of Valencia, a famous curioso, who could cure me; but the Zambo would
expect to be treated with attentions which I cannot pay to a man of
his colour, and I prefer remaining as I am."
On leaving Guigue we began to ascend the chain of mountains, extending
on the south of the lake towards Guacimo and La Palma. From the top of
a table-land, at three hundred and twenty toises of elevation, we saw
for the last time the valleys of Aragua. The gneiss appeared
uncovered, presenting the same direction of strata, and the same dip
towards the north-west. Veins of quartz, that traverse the gneiss, are
auriferous; and hence the neighbouring ravine bears the name of
Quebrada del Oro. We heard with surprise at every step the name of
"ravine of gold," in a country where only one single mine of copper is
wrought. We travelled five leagues to the village of Maria Magdalena,
and two leagues more to the Villa de Cura. It was Sunday, and at the
village of Maria Magdalena the inhabitants were assembled before the
church. They wanted to force our muleteers to stop and hear mass. We
resolved to remain; but, after a long altercation, the muleteers
pursued their way. I may observe, that this is the only dispute in
which we became engaged from such a cause. Very erroneous ideas are
formed in Europe of the intolerance, and even of the religious fervour
of the Spanish colonists.
San Luis de Cura, or, as it is commonly called, the Villa de Cura,
lies in a very barren valley, running north-west and south-east, and
elevated, according to my barometrical observations, two hundred and
sixty-six toises above the level of the ocean. The country, with the
exception of some fruit-trees, is almost destitute of vegetation. The
dryness of the plateau is the greater, because (and this circumstance
is rather extraordinary in a country of primitive rocks) several
rivers lose themselves in crevices in the ground. The Rio de Las
Minas, north of the Villa de Cura, is lost in a rock, again appears,
and then is ingulphed anew without reaching the lake of Valencia,
towards which it flows. Cura resembles a village more than a town. We
lodged with a family who had excited the resentment of government
during the revolution at Caracas in 1797.
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