Among the Indians gathered at Pararuma we found some whites who had come from Angostura to buy turtle butter. After wearying us with their complaints about the 'poor harvest' and about the harm done by the jaguars as the turtles laid their eggs, they led us under an ajupa raised in the middle of the Indian camp. There we found the missionary monks from Carichana and the cataracts sitting on the ground playing cards and smoking tobacco in long pipes. These poor priests received us in a very friendly manner. They had been suffering from tertiary fever for months. Pale and emaciated, they had no trouble convincing us that the countries we were about to visit were dangerous for our health.

May 5th. We set off on foot following our boat, which had reached Caìo Pimichín by portage. We had to wade through numerous streams. This journey demands caution because water snakes teem in the marshes. Indians pointed out tracks in the wet clay left by the small black bears that are so common on the Temi banks. They are different in size from the Ursus americanus: missionaries call them oso carnicero to differentiate them from the oso palmero or tamanoir Myrmecophaga jubata) and the oso hormiguero or tamandua ant-eater. Two of these animals, which are good to eat, defend themselves by rising up on to their hind legs. Buffon's tamanoir is called uaraca by the Indians: they are irascible and brave, which is strange given that they are without teeth. As we advanced we came across some accessible clearings in the jungle. We picked new species of coffea, a Galega piscatorum, which Indians use like the jacquinia, and a composite plant of the Temi river, as a kind of barbasco to stun fish; and a large liana known locally as bejuco de mavacure, which gives the famous curare poison.

Despite the small size of our boat, and the boasted skill of our pilot, we often ran aground. The bottom was soft so there was no danger of sinking. At sunset we preferred to lie at anchor. The first night was beautifully serene, with countless shooting stars all falling in the same direction. This area is completely deserted, while in Columbus's time it was inhabited by great numbers of fishermen. These Cuban inhabitants used a small fish to catch the great sea-turtles. They tied this fish to a long cord of the revés (the Spanish name for the echeneis). This 'fisher-fish' fixed itself on the shell of the turtle by means of its suckers. The Indians pulled both sucker fish and turtle ashore. It took three days to pass through this labyrinth of Jardines and Jardinillos. As we moved east the sea got rougher.

The araguato, which the Tamanaco Indians call aravata and the Maypures marave, resembles a bear cub. From the top of its small and pointed head to the beginning of its prehensile tail it measures 3 feet; its coat is thick and reddish-brown; even its breasts and belly are covered in pretty fur. The araguato's face is blackish-blue, with wrinkled skin. Its beard is longish, and although its facial angle is no more than 30 degrees there is as much humanity in its look and facial expressions as in the marimonda (Simia belzebuth) and the capuchin (Simia chiripotes) of the Orinoco.

The natural beauties of the mountains absorbed us so completely that we did not notice we were becoming a weight on our good and hospitable padres. Their provisions of wine and wheat bread were small, and both are considered real luxuries in these lands, so it inhibited us to think that our hosts deprived themselves on our account. Our ration of bread had been reduced to one quarter, yet the cruel rains delayed our departure for two days. How long that delay seemed; we dreaded the bell that called us for a meal!

The Indian pilot who had led us from San Fernando de Apure up to the Pararuma beach did not know his way through the Orinoco rapids, and no longer wanted to sail our boat. We had to accept his decision. Luckily the Carichana missionary agreed to loan us a fine pirogue quite cheaply. Father Bernardo Zea, missionary from Atures and Maypures near the Great Cataracts, even offered to accompany us himself to the Brazilian border. The number of Indians willing to carry the canoes along the cataracts was so few that without this monk's presence we risked waiting weeks in that humid and unhealthy area. Father Zea hoped to recover his health by visiting the Río Negro missions. He talked of those places with the enthusiasm that all those in the colonies feel when talking about far-off places.

The missionary led us into several ordered and extremely clean Indian huts. It was painful to see how Carib mothers forced their children from the earliest age to enlarge the calves of their legs, as well as mould their flesh in stripes from the ankle to the top of the thigh. Bands of leather or cotton are tied tightly 2 inches apart and pulled hard so that the muscles in between swell out. Our swaddled children suffer far less than the Carib children, who are meant to be closer to nature. The monks, ignorant of Rousseau's works (132) and even of his name, are unable to prevent this ancient physical education; man from the jungle, whom we believed to be so simple in customs, is far from docile when it comes to his dress and ideas about beauty and well-being. I was also surprised to see that the torture imposed on these children in no way hindered their blood circulation or their muscular movements. There is no tribe that is stronger or runs faster than the Caribs.