492 INDIAN PREJUDICES. 



manner of catching this herbivorous ceiacea. The PiraoaSj 

 pome families of whom inhabit the mission of Carichana, 

 detest this animal to such a degree, that they hid them- 

 selves, to avoid being obliged to touch it, whilst it was 

 being conveyed to our hut. They said, that the people of 

 their tribe die infallibly, when they eat of it. This preju 

 dice is the more singular, as the neighbours of the Piraoas, 

 the Gruamos and the Ottomacs, are very fond of the flesh of 

 the manati. The flesh of the crocodile is also an object of 

 horror to some tribes, and of predilection to others. 



The island of Cuba furnishes a fact little known in the 

 history of the manati. South of the port of Xagua, several 

 miles from the coast, there are springs of fresh water in the 

 middle of the sea. They are supposed to be owing to a 

 hydrostatic pressure existing in subterraneous channels, 

 communicating with the lofty mountains of Trinidad. Small 

 vessels sometimes take in water there ; and, what is well 

 worthy of observation, large manatis remain habitually in 

 those spots. I have already called the attention of natu- 

 ralists to the crocodiles which advance from the mouth of 

 rivers far into the sea. Analogous circumstances may have 

 caused, in the ancient catastrophes of our planet, that sin- 

 gular mixture of pelagian and fluviatile bones and petrifac- 

 tions, which is observed in some rocks of recent formation. 



Our stay at Carichana was very useful in recruiting our 

 strength after our fatigues. M. Bonpland bore with him 

 the germs of a cruel malady ; he needed repose ; but as the 

 delta of the tributary streams included between the Horeda 

 and Paruasi is covered with a rich vegetation, he made long 

 herbalizations, and was wet through several times in a day. 

 "We found, fortunately, in the house of the missionary, the 

 most attentive care ; we were supplied with bread made 

 of maize flour, and even with milk. The cows yield milk 

 plentifully enough in the lower regions of the torrid zone, 

 wherever good pasturage is found. I call attention to this 

 fact, because local circumstances have spread through the 

 Indian Archipelago the prejudice of coisidering hot cli- 

 mates as repugnant to the secretion of milk. We may 

 conceive the indifference of the inhabitants of the New 

 World for milk diet, fchs country having been originally 



