Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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We Arrived Very Late At Maracay, And The Persons To Whom We Were
Recommended Were Absent.
The inhabitants perceiving our
embarrassment, contended with each other in offering to lodge us,
to place our instruments, and take care of our mules.
It has been
said a thousand times, but the traveller always feels desirous of
repeating it again, that the Spanish colonies are the land of
hospitality; they are so even in those places where industry and
commerce have diffused wealth and improvement. A family of
Canarians received us with the most amiable cordiality; an
excellent repast was prepared, and everything was carefully avoided
that might act as any restraint on us. The master of the house, Don
Alexandro Gonzales, was travelling on commercial business, and his
young wife had lately had the happiness of becoming a mother. She
was transported with joy when she heard that on our return from the
Rio Negro we should proceed by the banks of the Orinoco to
Angostura, where her husband was. We were to bear to him the
tidings of the birth of his first child. In those countries, as
among the ancients, travellers are regarded as the safest means of
communication. There are indeed posts established, but they make
such great circuits that private persons seldom entrust them with
letters for the llanos or savannahs of the interior. The child was
brought to us at the moment of our departure: we had seen him
asleep at night, but it was deemed indispensable that we should see
him awake in the morning.
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