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life. They go to bed at seven, and rise at half after four. The inside of their huts is kept very clean, and their hammocks, utensils, and weapons are arranged in the greatest order. They bathe every day, and, being generally naked, are thus exempted from the filth principally caused by clothing. Besides their cabin in the village, they usually have a smaller one, covered with palm or plantain-leaves, in some solitary place in the woods, to which they retire as often as they can; and so strong is the desire among them of enjoying the pleasures of savage life, that the children sometimes wander entire days in the forests. In fact, the towns are often almost wholly deserted. As in all semi-barbarous nations, the women are subjected to privation and suffering, the hardest labour falling to their share.

The Indians learn Spanish with extreme difficulty; and even when they perfectly understand the meaning of the words, are unable to express the most simple ideas in that language without embarrassment. They seem to have as little capacity for comprehending any thing belonging to numbers; the more intelligent counting in Spanish with the appearance of great effort only as far as thirty, or perhaps fifty, while in their own tongue they cannot proceed beyond five or six. The construction of the American dialects is so different from that of the several classes of speech derived from the Latin, that the Jesuits employed some of the more perfect among the former instead of their own; and had this system been generally followed the greatest benefit would have resulted from it. The Chayma appeared to Humboldt less agreeable to the ear than that of the other South American tribes.

The Pariagotoes, or Parias, formerly occupied the coasts of Berbice and Essequibo, the peninsula of Paria, and the plains of Piritoo and Parima. Little information, however, is furnished respecting them. The Guaraounoes are dispersed in the delta of the

OTHER NATIVE TRIBES.

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Orinoco, and owe their independence to the nature of their country. In order to raise their houses above the inundations of the river, they support them on the trunks of the mangrove and mauritia palm. They make bread of the flour obtained from the pith of the latter tree. Their excellent qualities as seamen, their perfect knowledge of the mouths and inosculations of that magnificent stream, and their great number, give them a certain degree of political importance. They run with great address on marshy ground, where the whites, the negroes, or other Indian tribes, will not venture; and this circumstance has given rise to the idea of their being specifically lighter than the rest of the natives.

The Guayquerias are the most intrepid fishermen of these countries, and are the only persons well acquainted with the great bank that surrounds the islands of Coche, Margarita, Sola, and Testigos. They inhabit Margarita, the peninsula of Araya, and a suburb of Cumana.

The Quaquas, formerly a very warlike tribe, are now mingled with the Chaymas attached to the missions of Cumana, although their original abode was on the banks of the Assiveru.

The Cumanagatoes, to the number of more than twenty thousand, subject to the Christian stations of Piritoo, live westward of Cumana, where they cultivate the ground. At the beginning of the sixteenth century they inhabited the mountains of the Brigantine and Parabolota.

The Caribbees of these countries are part of the remnant of the great Carib nation.

The natives of America may be divided into two great classes. To the first belong the Esquimaux of Greenland, Labrador, and Hudson's Bay, and the inhabitants of Behring's Straits, Alaska, and Prince William's Sound. The eastern and western branches of this great family, the Esquimaux proper and the Tschougages, are united by the most intimate simi

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RESIDENCE AT CUMANA.

larity of language, although separated to the immense distance of eight hundred leagues. The inhabitants of the north-east of Asia are evidently of the same stock. Like the Malays, this hyperborean nation resides only on the seacoast. They are of smaller stature than the other Americans, lively and loquacious. Their hair is straight and black; but their skin is originally white, in which respect they essentially differ from the other class.

The second race is dispersed over the various regions of the continent, from the northern parts to the southern extremity. They are of larger size, more warlike, and more taciturn, and differ in the colour of their skin. At the earliest age it has more or less of a coppery tinge in most of the tribes, while in others the children are fair, or nearly so; and certain tribes on the Orinoco preserve the same complexion during their whole life. Humboldt is of opinion that these differences in colour are but slightly influenced by climate or other external circumstances, and endeavours to impress the idea that they depend on the original constitution.

CHAPTER X.

Residence at Cumana.

Residence at Cumana-Attack of a Zambo-Eclipse of the SunExtraordinary Atmospherical Phenomena-Shocks of an Earthquake -Luminous Meteors.

OUR travellers remained a month longer at Cumana. As they had determined to make a voyage on the Orinoco and Rio Negro, preparations of various kinds were necessary; and the astronomical determination of places being the most important object of this undertaking, it was of essential advan

REMARKABLE ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA.

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tage to observe an eclipse of the sun which was to happen in the end of October.

On the 27th, the day before the obscuration, they went out in the evening, as usual, to take the air. Crossing the beach which separates the suburb of the Guayquerias from the landing place, they heard the sound of footsteps behind, and on turning saw a tall Zambo, who, coming up, flourished a great palmtree bludgeon over Humboldt's head. He avoided the stroke by leaping aside; but Bonpland was less fortunate; for, receiving a blow above the temple, he was felled to the ground. The former assisted his companion to rise, and both now pursued the ruffian, who had run off with one of their hats, and on being seized, drew a long knife from his trousers. In the mean time some Biscayan merchants, who were walking on the shore, came to their assistance; when the Zambo, seeing himself surrounded, took to his heels, and sought refuge in a cowhouse, from which he was led to prison. The inhabitants showed the warmest concern for the strangers; and although Bonpland had a fever during the night, he speedily recovered. The object of the Zambo, who soon afterward succeeded in escaping from the castle of San Antonio, was never satisfactorily made out.

Notwithstanding this untoward accident, Humboldt was enabled to observe the eclipse. The days which preceded and followed it displayed very remarkable atmospheric phenomena. It was what is called winter in those countries. From the 10th of October to the 3d of November a reddish vapour rose in the evening, and in a few minutes covered the sky. The hygrometer gave no indication of humidity. The diurnal heat was from 82.4° to 89.6°. Sometimes in the midst of the night the mist disappeared for a moment, when clouds of a brilliant whiteness formed in the zenith, and extended towards the horizon. On the 18th of October they

were so transparent that they did not conceal stars even of the fourth magnitude, and the spots of the moon were very clearly distinguished. They were arranged in masses at equal distances, and seemed to be at a prodigious height. From the 28th of October to the 3d of November the fog was thicker than it had yet been. The heat at night was stifling, although the thermometer indicated only 78.8°. The evening breeze was no longer felt; the sky appeared as if on fire, and the ground was everywhere cracked and dusty. On the 4th of November about two in the afternoon, large clouds of extraordinary blackness enveloped the mountains of the Brigantine and Tataraqual, extending gradually to the zenith. About four, thunder was heard overhead, but at an immense height, and with a dull and often interrupted sound. At the moment of the strongest electric explosion, two shocks of an earthquake, separated by an interval of fifteen seconds, were felt. The people in the streets filled the air with their cries. Bonpland, who was examining plants, was nearly thrown on the floor, and Humboldt, who was lying in his hammock, felt the concussion strongly. Its direction was from north to south. A few minutes before the first there was a violent gust of wind followed by large drops of rain. The sky remained cloudy, and the blast was succeeded by a dead calm, which continued all night. The setting of the sun presented a scene of great magnificence. The dark atmospheric shroud was rent asunder close to the horizon, and the sun appeared at 12° of altitude on an indigo ground, its disk enormously enlarged and distorted. The clouds were gilded on the edges, and bundles of rays reflecting the most brilliant prismatic colours extended over the heavens. About nine in the evening there was a third shock, which, although much slighter, was evidently attended with a subterranean noise. The barometer was a little lower than usual, but the progress of the