640 



where every body speaks of geophagy as of a 

 thing* anciently known. I shall here confine 

 myself to an account of what we ourselves saw, 

 or heard from the missionary, whom an unhappy 

 fatality had doomed to live for twelve years 

 among the savage and turbulent tribe of the 

 Otomacs. 



The inhabitants of Uruana belong to those 

 nations of the savannahs (Indios andantes ), who, 

 more difficult to civilize than the nations of the 

 forest* (Indios del monte), have a decided aver- 

 sion to cultivate the land, and live almost exclu- 

 sively on hunting- and fishing. They are men of 

 a very robust constitution ; but ugly, savage, 

 vindictive, and passionately fond of fermented 

 liquors. They are omnivorous animals in the 

 highest degree ; and therefore the other Indians, 

 who consider them as barbarians, have a com- 

 mon saying, " nothing is so disgusting, that an 

 Otomac will not eat it." While the waters of 

 the Oroonoko and it's tributary streams are low, 

 the Otomacs subsist on fish and turtles. The 

 former they kill with surprising dexterity, by 

 shooting them with an arrow, when they appear 

 at the surface of the water. When the rivers 

 swell, which in South America, as well as in 

 Egypt and in Nubia, is erroneously attributed to 

 the melting of the snows, and which occurs 



* On the difference between them, see above, p. 271. 



