DOMESTICATED BIRDS AND ANIMALS. 
311 
climate, within the torrid zone, embarrassed the natives in 
regard to migration in numerous bodies, prevented settle- 
ments requiring an extensive space, and perpetuated the 
misery and barbarism of solitary hordes. 
The feeble civilization introduced in our days by the 
Spanish monks pursues a retrograde course. Father Gfili 
relates that, at the time of the expedition to the boundaries, 
agriculture began to make some progress on the banks of 
the Orinoco ; and that cattle, especially goats, had mul- 
tiplied considerably at Maypures. We found no goats, 
either in the mission or in any other village of the Orinoco ; 
they had all been devoured by the tigers. The black and 
white breeds of pigs only, the latter of which arc called 
French pigs (puereos franceses), because they are believed 
to have come from the Caribbee Islands, have resisted the 
pursuit of wild beasts. We saw with much pleasure gua- 
cumayas, or tame macaws, round the huts of the Indians, 
and flying to the fields like our pigeons. This bird is the 
largest and most majestic species of parrot with naked 
cheeks that we found in our travels. It is called in Mara- 
tivitan, caJiuei. Including the tail, it is two feet three 
inches long. We had observed it also on the banks of the 
Atabapo, the Teini, and the Rio Negro. The flesh of the 
cahu/ri, which is frequently eaten, is black and somewhat 
lough. These macaws, whose plumage glows with vivid 
lints of purple, blue, and yellow, are a great ornament to 
Hie Indian farm-yards ; they do not yield in beauty to the 
peacock, the golden pheasant, the pauxi, or the alector. 
The practice of rearing parrots, birds of a family so different 
from the gallinaceous tribes, was remarked by Columbus. 
When he discovered America he saw macaws, or large 
Parrots, which served as food to the natives of the Caribbee 
islands, instead of fowls. 
A majestic tree, more than sixty feet high, which the 
Planters call fruta de burro, grows in the vicinity of the 
nttle village of Maypures. It is a new species of the 
'niona, and has the stateliness of the Uvaria zeylanica of 
■Tub let. Its branches are straight, and rise in a pyramid, 
Nearly like the poplar of the Mississippi, erroneously called 
ihe Lombardy poplar. The tree is jelebrated for its aro- 
matic fruit, the infusion of which is a powerful febri fuge. 
