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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Its Mouth Is Much Wider Than That Of The Myletes Of
Cuvier.
Its body, toward the back, is ash-coloured with a tint of
green, but the belly, the gill-covers, and the pectoral, anal, and
ventral fins, are of a fine orange hue.
Three species are known in the
Orinoco, and are distinguished by their size. The intermediate appears
to be identical with the medium species of the piraya, or piranha, of
Marcgrav.* (* Salmo rhombeus, Linn.) The caribito has a very agreeable
flavour. As no one dares to bathe where it is found, it may be
considered as one of the greatest scourges of those climates, in which
the sting of the mosquitos and the general irritation of the skin
render the use of baths so necessary.
We stopped at noon in a desert spot called Algodonal. I left my
companions while they drew the boat ashore and were occupied in
preparing our dinner. I went along the beach to get a near view of a
group of crocodiles sleeping in the sun, and lying in such a manner as
to have their tails, which were furnished with broad plates, resting
on one another. Some little herons,* white as snow, walked along their
backs, and even upon their heads, as if passing over trunks of trees.
(* Garzon chico. It is believed, in Upper Egypt, that herons have an
affection for crocodiles, because they take advantage in fishing of
the terror that monstrous animal causes among the fishes, which he
drives from the bottom to the surface of the water; but on the banks
of the Nile, the heron keeps prudently at some distance from the
crocodile.) The crocodiles were of a greenish grey, half covered with
dried mud; from their colour and immobility they might have been taken
for statues of bronze. This excursion had nearly proved fatal to me. I
had kept my eyes constantly turned towards the river; but, whilst
picking up some spangles of mica agglomerated together in the sand, I
discovered the recent footsteps of a tiger, easily distinguishable
from their form and size. The animal had gone towards the forest, and
turning my eyes on that side, I found myself within eighty paces of a
jaguar that was lying under the thick foliage of a ceiba. No tiger had
ever appeared to me so large.
There are accidents in life against which we may seek in vain to
fortify our reason. I was extremely alarmed, yet sufficiently master
of myself and of my motions to enable me to follow the advice which
the Indians had so often given us as to how we ought to act in such
cases. I continued to walk on without running, avoided moving my arms,
and I thought I observed that the jaguar's attention was fixed on a
herd of capybaras which was crossing the river. I then began to
return, making a large circuit toward the edge of the water. As the
distance increased, I thought I might accelerate my pace. How often
was I tempted to look back in order to assure myself that I was not
pursued! Happily I yielded very tardily to this desire. The jaguar had
remained motionless. These enormous cats with spotted robes are so
well fed in countries abounding in capybaras, pecaries, and deer, that
they rarely attack men. I arrived at the boat out of breath, and
related my adventure to the Indians. They appeared very little
interested by my story; yet, after having loaded our guns, they
accompanied us to the ceiba beneath which the jaguar had lain. He was
there no longer, and it would have been imprudent to have pursued him
into the forest, where we must have dispersed, or advanced in single
file, amidst the intertwining lianas.
In the evening we passed the mouth of the Cano del Manati, thus named
on account of the immense quantity of manatees caught there every
year. This herbivorous animal of the cetaceous family, is called by
the Indians apcia and avia,* and it attains here generally ten or
twelve feet in length. (* The first of these words belongs to the
Tamanac language, and the second to the Ottomac. Father Gili proves,
in opposition to Oviedo, that manati (fish with hands) is not Spanish,
but belongs to the languages of Hayti (St. Domingo) and the Maypures.
I believe also that, according to the genius of the Spanish tongue,
the animal would have been called manudo or manon, but not manati.) It
usually weighs from five hundred to eight hundred pounds, but it is
asserted that one has been taken of eight thousand pounds weight. The
manatee abounds in the Orinoco below the cataracts, in the Rio Meta,
and in the Apure, between the two islands of Carizales and Conserva.
We found no vestiges of nails on the external surface or the edges of
the fins, which are quite smooth; but little rudiments of nails appear
at the third phalanx, when the skin of the fins is taken off. We
dissected one of these animals, which was nine feet long, at
Carichana, a Mission of the Orinoco. The upper lip was four inches
longer than the lower one. It was covered with a very fine skin, and
served as a proboscis. The inside of the mouth, which has a sensible
warmth in an animal newly killed, presented a very singular
conformation. The tongue was almost motionless; but in front of the
tongue there was a fleshy excrescence in each jaw, and a cavity lined
with a very hard skin, into which the excrescence fitted. The manatee
eats such quantities of grass, that we have found its stomach, which
is divided into several cavities, and its intestines, (one hundred and
eight feet long,) filled with it. On opening the animal at the back,
we were struck with the magnitude, form, and situation of its lungs.
They have very large cells, and resemble immense swimming-bladders.
They are three feet long. Filled with air, they have a bulk of more
than a thousand cubic inches.
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