492 
INDIAN PREJUDICES. 
manner of catching this herbivorous cetacea. Tiie Piraoas, 
some families of whom inhabit the mission of Carichana, 
detest this animal to such a degree, that they hid them- 
selves, to avoid being obliged to touch it, whilst it was 
being conveyed to our hut. They said, that the people of 
their tribe die infallibly, when they eat of it. This preju 
dice is the more singular, as the neighbours of the Piraoas, 
the Gruamos and the Ottomans, are very fond of the flesh of 
the manati. The flesh of the crocodile is also an object of 
horror to some tribes, and of predilection to others. 
The island of Cuba furnishes a fact little known in the 
history of the manati. South of the port of Xagua, several 
miles from the coast, there are springs of fresh water in the 
middle of the sea. They are supposed to be owing t» a 
hydrostatic pressure existing in subterraneous channels, 
communicating with the lofty mountains of Trinidad. Small 
vessels sometimes take in water there ; and, what is well 
worthy of observation, large manatis remain habitually in 
those spots. I have already called the attention of natu- 
ralists to the crocodiles which advance from the mouth of 
rivers far into the sea. Analogous circumstances may have 
caused, in the ancient catastrophes of our planet, that sin- 
gular mixture of pelagian and fluviatile bones and petrifac- 
tions, which is observed in some rocks of recent formation. 
Our stay at Carichana was very useful in recruiting our 
strength after our fatigues. M. Bonpland bore with him 
the germs of a cruel malady ; he needed repose ; but as the 
delta of the tributary streams included between the Horeda 
and Paruasi is covered with a rich vegetation, he made long 
herbalizations, and was wet through several times in a day. 
We found, fortunately, in the house of the missionary, the 
most attentive care ; we were supplied with bread made 
of maize flour, and even with milk. The cows yield mi 11c 
plentifully enough in the lower regions of the torrid zone, 
wherever good pasturage is found. I call attention to this 
fact, because local circumstances have spread through the 
Indian Archipelago the prejudice of cousidering hot cli- 
mates as repugnant to the secretion of milk. We may 
conceive the indifference of the inhabitants of the New 
World for a milk diet, the country having been originally 
