37^ 



UI.IX)A*S VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA. 



The barks employed on this river are of two kinds, the chatas and bongos, called 

 in Peru, bonques. The firfl are compofed of feveral pieces of timber, like barks, 

 and of great breadth, that they may draw but litte water ; they carry fix or feven hun- 

 dred quintals. The bongos are formed out of one piece of wood ; and it is furprifmg 

 to think there fhould be trees of fuch a prodigious bulk, fome being eleven Paris feet 

 broad, and carrying conveniently four or five hundred quintals. Both forts have a 

 cabin at the ftern, for the conveniency of the paflengers, a kind of awning fupported 

 with a wooden ftancheon reaching to the head, and a partition in the middle, which 

 is alfo continued the whole length of the veflel ; and over the whole, when the veffel 

 is loaded, are laid hides, that the goods may not be damaged by the violence of the 

 rains, which are very frequent here. Each of thefe require, befides the pilot, at leaft 

 eighteen or twenty robuft negroes ; for without fuch a number, they would not be 

 able, in going up, to make any way againft the current. 



All the foreflsand woods near this river are full of wild beads, efpecially different 

 kinds of monkeys. They are of various colours, as black, brown, reddifh, and 

 ftriated; there is alfo the fame diverfity in their fize; fome being a yard long, others 

 about half a yard, and others fcarce one third. The flefh of all thefe different kinds 

 is highly valued by the negroes, efpecially that of the red ; but however delicate the 

 meat may be, the fight of them is I think, enough to make the appetite abhor them; 

 for when dead, they are fcalded in order to take off the hair, whence the fkin is con- 

 tracted by the heat, and when thoroughly cleaned, looks perfe£tly white, and very greatly 

 refembles a child of about two or three years of age, when crying. This refemblance 

 is Ihocking to humanity, yet the fcarcity of other food in many parts of America renders 

 the flefh of thefe creatures valuable ; and not only the negroest, but the Creoles and 

 Europeans themfelves, make no fcruple of eating it. 



Nothing in my opinion, can excel the profpeds which the rivers of this country ex- 

 hibits The mofl fertile imagination of a painter can never equal the magnificence of 

 the rural landfcapes here drawn by the pencil of Nature. The groves which fhade the 

 plains, and extend their branches to the river ; the various dimenfions of the trees 

 which cover the eminences ; the texture of their leaves ; the figure of their fruits, and 

 the various colours they exhibit, form a mofl delightful fcene, which is greatly height- 

 ened by the infinite varitety of creatures with which it is diverfified. The different 

 fpecies of monkeys, fkipping in troops from tree to tree, hanging from the branches, 

 and in other places fix, eight, or more of them linked together, in order to pafs a 

 river, and the dams with their young on their fhoulders, throwing themfelves into odd 

 poflures, making a thouimd grimaces, will perhaps appear fiftitious to thofe who have 

 not a6lually feen it. But if the birds are confidered, our reafon for admiration will be 

 greatly augmented : for, befide thofe already mentioned (Book I. chap, vii.), and 

 which, from their abundance, feem to have had their origin on the banks of this river, 

 here are a great variety of others, alfo eatable, as the wild and royal peacock, the 

 turtle-dove, and the heron. Of the latter there are four or five fpecies ; fome entirely 

 white, others of the fame colour, except the neck and fome parts of the body, which 

 are red ; others black, only the neck, tips of the v/ings and the belly white ; and fome, 

 with other mixture of colours ; and all differing in fize. The fpecies firfl mentioned 

 are the leaft ; the white mixed with black the largeft and moft palatable. The flefh 

 ■of peacocks, pheafants, and other kinds, is very delicate *. The trees along the banks 



* The filhy tafte, which moll of the fowls in this country have^ is an exception to their delicacy as 

 ioqd. A. 



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