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 Caribs, When They Arrived Amid The
Numerous Tribes Of The Upper Orinoco, Divided Themselves Into Several
Bands, In Order
To reach, by the Cassiquiare, the Cababury, the
Itinivini, and the Atabapo, on a great many points at once, the
Banks
of the Guiainia or Rio Negro, and carry on the slave-trade with the
Portuguese. Thus the unhappy natives, before they came into immediate
contact with the Europeans, suffered from their proximity. The same
causes produce everywhere the same effects. The barbarous trade which
civilized nations have carried on, and still partially continue, on
the coast of Africa, extends its fatal influence even to regions where
the existence of white men is unknown.
Having quitted the mouth of the Conorichite and the mission of Davipe,
we reached at sunset the island of Dapa, lying in the middle of the
river, and very picturesquely situated. We were astonished to find on
this spot some cultivated ground, and on the top of a small hill an
Indian hut. Four natives were seated round a fire of brushwood, and
they were eating a sort of white paste with black spots, which much
excited our curiosity. These black spots proved to be vachacos, large
ants, the hinder parts of which resemble a lump of grease. They had
been dried, and blackened by smoke. We saw several bags of them
suspended above the fire. These good people paid but little attention
to us; yet there were more than fourteen persons in this confined hut,
lying naked in hammocks hung one above another.
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