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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Between The Latitudes Of 4 And 8 Degrees, The Orinoco Not Only
Separates The Great Forest Of The Parime From The Bare Savannahs Of
The Apure, Meta, And Guaviare, But Also Forms The Boundary Between
Tribes Of Very Different Manners.
To the westward, over treeless
plains, wander the Guahibos, the Chiricoas, and the Guamos; nations,
proud of their savage independence, whom it is difficult to fix to the
soil, or habituate to regular labour.
The Spanish missionaries
characterise them well by the name of Indios andantes (errant or
vagabond Indians), because they are perpetually moving from place to
place. To the east of the Orinoco, between the neighbouring sources of
the Caura, Cataniapo, and Ventuari, live the Macos, the Salives, the
Curacicanas, Parecas, and Maquiritares, mild, tranquil tribes,
addicted to agriculture, and easily subjected to the discipline of the
Missions. The Indian of the plains differs from the Indian of the
forests in language as well as manners and mental disposition; both
have an idiom abounding in spirited and bold terms; but the language
of the former is harsher, more concise, and more impassioned; that of
the latter, softer, more diffuse, and fuller of ambiguous expressions.
The Mission of Atures, like most of the Missions of the Orinoco,
situated between the mouths of the Apure and the Atabapo, is composed
of both the classes of tribes we have just described. We there find
the Indians of the forests, and the Indians heretofore nomadic*
(Indios monteros and Indios llaneros, or andantes). (* I employ the
word nomadic as synonymous with wandering, and not in its primitive
signification. The wandering nations of America (those of the
indigenous tribes, it is to be understood) are never shepherds; they
live by fishing and hunting, on the fruit of a few trees, the
farinaceous pith of palm-trees, etc.) We visited with the missionary
the huts of Macos, whom the Spaniards call Piraoas, and those of the
Guahibos. The first indicated more love of order, cleanliness, and
ease. The independent Macos (I do not designate them by the name of
savages) have their rochelas, or fixed dwellings, two or three days'
journey east of Atures, toward the sources of the little river
Cataniapo. They are very numerous. Like most of the natives of the
woods, they cultivate, not maize, but cassava; and they live in great
harmony with the Christian Indians of the mission. The harmony was
established and wisely cultivated by the Franciscan monk, Bernardo
Zea. This alcalde of the reduced Macos quitted the village of Atures
for a few months every year, to live in the plantations which he
possessed in the midst of the forests near the hamlet of the
independent Macos. In consequence of this peaceful intercourse, many
of the Indios monteros came and established themselves some time ago
in the mission. They asked eagerly for knives, fishing hooks, and
those coloured glass beads, which, notwithstanding the positive
prohibition of the priests, were employed not as necklaces, but as
ornaments of the guayuco (perizoma). Having obtained what they sought,
they returned to the woods, weary of the regulations of the mission.
Epidemic fevers, which prevailed with violence at the entrance of the
rainy season, contributed greatly to this unexpected flight.
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