3060
DISTRIBUTION
OF
NATIVE
HORDES.
o f plants in the equinoctial regions that are capable o f furnishing c a o u t c h o u c , it is to be regretted that this s u b stance, so eminently useful, is n o t f o u n d a m o n g us at a lower price. W i t h o u t cultivating trees w i t h a milky sap, a sufficient quantity o f c a o u t c h o u c m i g h t b e collected in the missions o f the O r i n o c o alone for the c o n s u m p t i o n o f civilized E u r o p e . * In the k i n g d o m o f N e w G r e n a d a some successful attempts have been made to make boots and shoes o f this substance w i t h o u t a Beam. A m o n g tho American n a t i o n , the Omaguas o f the A m a z o n best understand how to manufacture c a o u t c h o u c . F o u r days had passed, and our canoe had not y e t arrived at the landing-place o f the Rio Pimichin. " You want for n o t h i n g in my m i s s i o n , " said f a t h e r C e r e s o ; " y o u hayo plantains and fish; at night you are not s t u n g by m o s q u i t o s ; and the longer y o u stay, the b e t t e r chance y o u will have o f seeing the stars o f my c o u n t r y . If y o u r boat be destroyed in the portage, we will give y o u a n o t h e r ; and I shall have had the satisfaction o f passing some weeks con gente blanca y DE razon." * Notwithstanding our impatience, we listened with interest to the information given us by the worthy missionary. It confirmed all we had already heard of the moral state o f the natives o f t h o s e countries. T h e y live, distributed in hordes o f forty o r fifty, under a family g o v e r n m e n t ; and they recognise a c o m m o n c h i e f ( a p o t o , sibierene) only at times when they make war against their neighbours. T h e mistrust, o f these hordes towards one another is increased by the c i r c u m stance that those who live ill the nearest n e i g h b o u r h o o d speak languages a l t o g e t h e r different. In the open plains, in the countries with savannahs, the tribes are fond o f c h o o s i n g their habitations from an affinity o f origin, and a resemblance o f manners and idioms. On the table-land o f Tartary, as in North A m e r i c a , great families o f nations have been seen, formed into several c o l u m n s , e x t e n d i n g their migrations across countries t h i n l y - w o o d e d , and easily tra• We saw in Guiana, besides the jacio and the curvana, two other trees that yield caoutchouc in abundance ; on the banks of the Atabapo, tho guamaqui with jatropha leaves, and at Maypures the cime. †" With white and rational people.'' European self-love usually opposes the gente de razon to the gente parda, or coloured people.