ISLAND OB PAN U MAN A. 
237 
Had themselves invented all these exaggerated fictions ; they 
derived them in great part from the recitals of the Indians, 
■d- fondness for narration prevails in the Missions, as it does 
sea, in the East, and in every place where the mind 
See ks amusement. A missionary, from his vocation, is not 
('lined to scepticism ; he imprints on his memory what 
natives have so often repeated to him ; and, when 
^turned to Europe, and restored to the civilized world, he 
jdids a pleasure in creating astonishment by a recital of 
tac ts which he thinks he has collected, and by an animated 
description of remote things. These stories, which the 
^Panish colonists call ‘tales of travellers and of monks’ 
leuentos de viageros y frailes), increase in improbability in 
^Portion as you increase your distance from the forests 
0 the Orinoco, and approach the coasts inhabited by the 
"Hites. When, at Cumana, Nueva Barcelona, and other 
s ? a ports which have frequent communication with the Mis- 
j' 0r| s, you betray any sign of incredulity, you arc reduced 
1° s dence by these few words : “ The fathers have seen it, 
i' u , t far above the Great Cataracts (mas arriba de los Rau- 
dales) » 
j. On the 15th of April, we left the island of Panamian a at 
°ur ] n t] 10 morning, two hours before sunrise. The sky 
' as in great part obscured, and lightnings flashed over dense 
. °uds a t more than forty degrees of elevation. We were 
^fprised at not hearing thunder; but possibly this was 
to the prodigious height of the storm? It appears 
v ° Us , that in Europe the electric flashes without thunder, 
j^gUely called heat-lightning, are seen generally nearer the 
orizou. Under a cloudy sky, that sent back the radiant 
w k "’ic of the soil, the heat was stifling; not a breath of 
Cm a S* ta ted the foliage of the trees. The jaguars, as 
g had crossed the arm of the Orinoco by which we were 
Pirated from the shore, and we heard their cries extremely 
on' r ' ^Hiring the night the Indians had advised us to quit 
Hef 8 ^ a Hion in the open air, and retire to a deserted hut 
Ha ! >n ^ g Ho the conucos of the inhabitants of A.turcs. They 
bi- C tf, ken care to barricade the opening with planks, a 
c ^ution which seemed to us superfluous; but near the 
Hi timers are very numerous, and two years belore, 
he8 e very conucos of Panumana, an Indian returning to 
