DIAMONDS ANIMALS. 



169 



CHAPTER VII. 



Diamonds— Animals of Chiquitos— Decree of 1837, and act of Congress — Senor 

 Oliden's voyage on the Paraguay river — Salt — Fall of trees — Descending the 

 mountains — Monkey meat — Coca plant — Espiritu Santo — Creole workmen — 

 A night in the wild woods— Yuracares hunting— River San Mateo— Province of 

 Yuracares. 



It is a singular fact that no diamonds have been found on the Bolivian 

 side of the Madeira Plate or La Plata basin, while among those streams, 

 in Brazil, which flow into these rivers diamonds abound. The general 

 opinion is that these precious stones do not exist in Bolivia. The streams 

 which pay tribute to the Madeira and Paraguay, from the east in Bra- 

 zil, are clear water rivers. In these transparent waters the diamond is 

 easily discovered. The washing away of the earth on that side is not 

 very great, even in the rainy season of the year. 



All the streams on the western or Bolivian side bear muddy water ; 

 the wearing away on that side is very great. The filling up of the 

 Madeira Plate is done from that side, just as the Titicaca lake is filling 

 up the fastest on its western shore, so that the diamonds of Bolivia, if 

 they exist, are lost in the mud. We were told by diamond hunters that 

 in rivers where the divers descend some distance, they find the water 

 coldest on the bottom where they pick up the precious stone, and the 

 men are so chilled when they returned to the surface, that they require 

 to be warmed by the side of a large fire, even under the heat of a 

 tropical sun. 



In the woods, and on the pampas of Chiquitos, roams the Tapir or 

 Brazil elk, the meat of which resembles that of the ox, and is considered 

 a delicacy by the Indians. In the forests, the fields, and about the rivers, 

 birds abound. The wild boar pushes his way through the grass, and 

 the American lion or jaguar leaps to fight the spotted tiger for the fatted 

 calf. The bear and wild-cat prowl through the tangled creepers, while 

 monkeys and parrots chatter their own peculiar idioms. The fox 

 and armadillo inhabit the hill sides ; near the river banks the turtle de- 

 posits its eggs. Large and small snakes require no search. 



From the Pacific coast to the Paraguay river, on the parallel of 18° 

 south latitude, there are three different climates ; that of Oruro, cold, 

 with an unproductive soil, thinly populated, and the inhabitants gen- 

 erally poor ; the towns becoming every year more and more depopulated, 

 and the resources of the country less valuable than in former years. 



