AN EXCELLENT ANT PASTE. I 7 



ened by smoke. The travellers saw several bags of 

 them suspended above the fire. These good people paid 

 but little attention to their guests ; yet there were more 

 than fourteen persons in this confined hut, lying naked 

 in hammocks hung one above another. When Father 

 Zea arrived, he was received with great demonstrations 

 of joy. Two young women came down from their ham- 

 mocks, to prepare for them cakes of cassava. In answer 

 to some inquiries which were put to them through an 

 interpreter, they answered that cassava grew poorly on 

 the island, but that it was a good land for ants, and food 

 was not wanting. In fact, these ants furnished subsist- 

 ence to the Indians of the Rio Negro and the Guainia. 

 They did not eat the ants as a luxury, but because the 

 fat of ants was a very substantial food. When the 

 cakes of cassava were prepared, Father Zea, whose fever 

 seemed rather to sharpen than to enfeeble his appetite, 

 ordered a little bag to be brought to him filled with 

 smoked ants. He mixed these bruised insects with flour 

 of cassava, which he pressed Humboldt and Bonpland to 

 taste. It somewhat resembled rancid butter mixed with 

 crumb of bread. The cassava had not an acid taste, but 

 some remains of European prejudices prevented their 

 joining in the praises bestowed by the good missionary 

 on what he called " an excellent ant paste." 



The violence of the rain obliged them to sleep in this 

 crowded hut. The Indians slept only from eight till two 

 in the morning ; the rest of the time they employd in 

 conversing in their hammocks, and preparing their bitter 

 beverage of cupana. They threw fresh fuel on the fire, 

 and complained of cold, although the temperature of the 

 air was at 70°. This custom of being awake, and even 



