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The orator of Guayana to be impressive must be long, however little he may have to say. Strange as it may seem, I listened critically to him, not without a feeling of scorn at his lower intelligence. But I was easier in my mind now.
In April Bolivar crossed the Orinoco and afterwards met Piar, who was besieging the City of Angostura, the most important position of Guayana. Piar had been fighting in that section with some success since the end of 1816. The inconstancy of Marino showed itself once more, although in this instance his conduct was opposed by Bermudez and other officers.
It were to be wished that here, as in the fine and fertile province of Venezuela, the inhabitants, faithful to the labours of the fields, would not addict themselves too hastily to the research of mines. I was assured that in 1760, the independent Caribs went to Cerro de Pajarcima, a mountain to the south of Vieja Guayana, to submit the decomposed rock to the action of washing.
Cla-cla was, however, an exception, and encouraged me not infrequently by emitting a sound, half cackle and half screech, by way of laughter; for she had come to her second childhood, or, at all events, had dropped the stolid mask which the young Guayana savage, in imitation of his elders, adjusts to his face at about the age of twelve, to wear it thereafter all his life long, or only to drop it occasionally when very drunk.
There is a bird in Guayana called the `gavilucho, which I believe to be a vulture differing from all these; and, moreover, I do not think that the `red-headed gallinazo' of South America is the same as the turkey-buzzard of the north.
The Guayana savage judges a man for his staying powers.
Look," I continued, putting my hand round my shoulder to touch the middle of my back, "there is a groove running down my spine dividing my body into equal parts. Thus does the great Orinoco divide Venezuela, and on one side of it is all Guayana; and on the other side the countries or provinces of Cumana, Maturm, Barcelona, Bolivar, Guarico, Apure, and many others."
It was clear that the best method of resistance would consist in attacking the royalists from different and unexpected angles. Several of his officers opposed the idea so strongly that at last Bolivar was induced to leave some men to protect the city and send the rest to Guayana, under the command of Marino. The men left in Barcelona were sacrificed by the royalists.
On my return in the afternoon I gave an enthusiastic account of my day's ramble, speaking not of the things that had moved my soul, but only of those which move the Guayana Indian's soul the animal food he craves, and which, one would imagine, Nature would prefer him to do without, so hard he finds it to wrest a sufficiency from her.
"Do you see where it fell?" she cried, turning towards me. "That is on the border of Guayana is it not? Let us go there first." "Rima, how you distress me! We cannot go there. It is all a savage wilderness, almost unknown to men a blank on the map " "The map? speak no word that I do not understand."
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