Note 43 — Letters from Father Mateo Gisbert to the Reverend Fathers and Brothers of Veruela

The Dulanganes (Gulanganes) called also Bangal-bangal, like the Manguangas, are people of the woods, and live in the mountains, about fifteen leguas from the Rio Grande, toward the southern coast. They are savage and fierce, and the Moros themselves who do not dare to meddle with them call them a bad race. It could be that the so cried-up ferocity of the Dulanganes bugaboo was invented by the Moros for their own ends, according to a note in one of the letters of Father Moré. Their number is unknown. They go completely naked, and for the most indispensable covering they use a kind of small apron made of bark or the leaves of trees. Their food is the same as that of the Mamanuas. They do not have houses either, and live in caves or inside the trunks of trees, or like the Mamanuas. Their weapons are usually arrows poisoned as I have heard with the curare. Is this perchance the same curare that is discussed by Father Gumilla in his Orinoco ilustrado?43 They will be found at color no. 12 in the map.