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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To Give Some Security To The Little Traders
Who Devoted Themselves To This Inland Commerce, Attacks Were Made From
Time To Time From The Castillo Or Fort Of Carichana, On The Guahibos.
To keep these Guahibos in awe, the Capuchin missionaries, who
succeeded the Jesuits in the government of the Missions of the
Orinoco, formed the project of founding a city at the mouth of the
Meta, under the name of the Villa de San Carlos.
Indolence, and the
dread of tertian fevers, have prevented the execution of this project;
and all that has ever existed of the city of San Carlos, is a coat of
arms painted on fine parchment, with an enormous cross erected on the
bank of the Meta. The Guahibos, who, it is said, are some thousands in
number, have become so insolent, that, at the time of our passage by
Carichana, they sent word to the missionary that they would come on
rafts, and burn his village. These rafts (valzas), which we had an
opportunity of seeing, are scarcely three feet broad, and twelve feet
long. They carry only two or three Indians; but fifteen or sixteen of
these rafts are fastened to each other with the stems of the
paullinia, the dolichos, and other creeping plants. It is difficult to
conceive how these small craft remain tied together in passing the
rapids. Many fugitives from the villages of the Casanare and the Apure
have joined the Guahibos, and taught them the practice of eating beef,
and preparing hides.
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