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 A Vast Granitic Plain, In Which From
League To League The Rock Pierces The Soil, And Forms, Not Hillocks,
But Small Masses, That Resemble Pillars Or Ruined Buildings.
On the 1st of May the Indians chose to depart long before sunrise.
We
were stirring before them, however, because I waited (though vainly)
for a star ready to pass the meridian. In those humid regions covered
with forests, the nights became more obscure in proportion as we drew
nearer to the Rio Negro and the interior of Brazil. We remained in the
bed of the river till daybreak, being afraid of losing ourselves among
the trees. At sunrise we again entered the inundated forest, to avoid
the force of the current. On reaching the junction of the Temi with
another little river, the Tuamini, the waters of which are equally
black, we proceeded along the latter to the south-west. This direction
led us near the mission of Javita, which is founded on the banks of
the Tuamini; and at this christian settlement we were to find the aid
necessary for transporting our canoe by land to the Rio Negro. We did
not arrive at San Antonio de Javita till near eleven in the morning.
An accident, unimportant in itself, but which shows the excessive
timidity of the little sagoins detained us some time at the mouth of
the Tuamini. The noise of the blowers had frightened our monkeys, and
one of them fell into the water. Animals of this species, perhaps on
account of their extreme meagreness, swim badly; and consequently it
was saved with some difficulty.
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