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 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. No tribe is more
difficult to fix to the soil than the Guahibos. They would rather feed
on stale fish, scolopendras, and worms, than cultivate a little spot
of ground. The other Indians say, that a Guahibo eats everything that
exists, both on and under the ground.
In ascending the Orinoco more to the south, the heat, far from
increasing, became more bearable. The air in the day was at 26 or 27.5
degrees; and at night, at 23.7. The water of the Orinoco retained its
habitual temperature of 27.7 degrees. The torment of the mosquitos
augmented severely, notwithstanding the decrease of heat. We never
suffered so much from them as at San Borja.
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