443 



alone. " Men put him out of humour/' los horn- 

 bres lo enfandan, say the people in the missions. 

 A pleasant, and simple expression, that marks a 

 well-observed fact. 



April the 3d. Since our departure from San 

 Fernando we have not met a single boat on this 

 fine river. Every thing denotes the most pro- 

 found solitude. In the mornmg our Indians 

 caught with a hook the fish known in the coun- 

 try by the name of caribe, or caribito> because 

 no other fish has such a thirst for blood. It at- 

 tacks bathers and swimmers, from whom it often 

 carries away considerable pieces of flesh. When 

 a person is only slightly wounded, it is difficult 

 for him to get out of the water without receiving 

 a severer wound. The Indians dread extremely 

 these caribes ; and several of them showed us 

 the scars of deep wounds in the calf of the leg ? 

 and in the thigh, made by these little animals, 

 which the Maypures call umati. They lire at the 

 bottom of rivers ; but if a few drops of blood be 

 shed on the water, they arrive by thousands at 

 the surface. When we reflect on the number of 

 these fish, the most voracious and cruel of which 

 are only four or five inches long ; on the trian- 

 gular form of their sharp and cutting teeth, and 

 on the amplitude of their retractile mouth, we 

 need not be surprised at the fear which thecaribe 

 excites in the inhabitants of the banks of the 



