I was so tired and wet, for it was now the rainy season, and so glad to find something to eat better than clay, that I was going to cram it down, when I saw unexpectedly that the black spots on it were large ants. I threw it down instantly; but soon recollecting that a paste mixed with ants, is represented by Humboldt as a very common food among some of these tribes of Indians, and feeling impelled by hunger to eat something, I at last eat a small quantity of it.
These were the laziest sort of people I ever met with. They seemed to have no wants, beyond mere eating and drinking;[2] they have no clothes to mend, or domestic cares to attend to; no fishing, no hunting to prepare for.
I quitted them as soon as I could, I assure you, for they were almost too lazy to furnish me with food; besides, I was not without fears, from the accounts given by other travellers, that they would master energy enough to kill me for food, as a treat!
Before I left them, however, I was greatly rejoiced, one day, to hear the word “Orinoco;” for, on inquiry, I found by signs that this long wished for river was only a little way to the south.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] I know we have some just such people as this in every country, at least in every one that I have seen; but here they were all stupid. There were no active and industrious persons among them.
BIRDS AND BEASTS OF SOUTH AMERICA.
Bathing—A shock—Electrical Eel—The Bell-bird—The Sloth—how slandered.
One day, about noon, as I came to a pleasant looking pond or lake, beautifully over-shadowed with trees, the thought struck me that I would take a bath. But I had scarcely entered the water, before I felt a shock like that of an electrical machine, and a very severe one, too.