The mouths of the Orinoco

These Tiuitiuas are a verie goodlie people and verie valiant, and haue the most manlie speech and most deliberate that euer I heard of what nation soeuer. In the summer they haue houses on the ground as in other places: In the winter they dwell vpon the trees, where they build very artificiall townes and villages, as it is written in the Spanish storie of the West Indies, that those people do in the low lands neere the gulfe of Vraba: for betweene May and September the riuer of Orenoke riseth thirtie foote vpright, and then are those Ilands ouerflowen twentie foote high aboue the leuell of the ground, sauing some few raised grounds in the middle of them: and for this cause they are enforced to liue in this maner.

These Tiuitiuas are a very handsome and very brave people, and they have the most manly and most deliberate speech I ever heard, of any nation whatever. In summer they have houses on the ground, as in other places. In winter they live in the trees, where they build very skillful towns and villages, as the Spanish story of the West Indies says those people do in the lowlands near the Gulf of Urabá. For between May and September the river Orinoco rises thirty feet straight up, and then those islands are flooded twenty feet above the level of the ground, except for a few raised places in the middle of them. For this reason they are forced to live in this way.

Of these people those that dwell vpon the branches of Orenoque called Capuri and Macureo, are for the most part Carpenters of Canoas, for they make the most and fairest houses, and sell them into Guiana for gold, and into Trinedado for Tobacco, in the excessiue taking whereof, they exceede all nations, and notwithstanding the moistnes of the aire in which they liue, the hardnes of their diet, and the great labors they suffer to hunt, fish, and foule for their liuing, in all my life either in the Indies or in Europe did I neuer behold a more goodlie or better fauoured people, or a more manlie.

Of these people, those who live on the branches of the Orinoco called Capuri and Macureo are mostly builders of canoes. They make the most and finest houses, and sell them into Guiana for gold, and into Trinidad for tobacco, in the excessive use of which they outdo all nations. They live in damp air, their diet is hard, and they endure great labor to hunt, fish, and fowl for their living. And yet in all my life, either in the Indies or in Europe, I never saw a more handsome or better-looking people, or a more manly one.