IXYESTIGATIOXS IN CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. 55 



a gentleman who considers himself the most generous in Loja, receiving in his 

 house all travellers of distinction. There is a great deal of the Spanish hidalgo 

 character still to be found in this city. When, some years ago, the rumor was 

 afloat that the Pope was contemplating leaving Italy, the citizens of Loja offered 

 him their hospitality, inviting him to reside amongst them. It was believed that 

 in the district of Malacatus, so celebrated for its flora, is the place where the great 

 treasure coming from Cuzco to ransom the Inca Atalwhuapa (Germ, spell.) was 

 buried by the Indians on receiving the tidings of his death. A sliort time before 

 my arrival a. new company was formed in Loja with the object of searching for 

 this treasure, although many companies previously formed with a similar object 

 have failed to accomplish it. 



After leaving Loja and ari-iving in the village Cariamanga I found no one who 

 could guide nie to a path leading to Peru over the heights of the mountains, and 

 I had to take the usual one through the desert of Pura. In Cariamanga a kind 

 of flour is made from the roots of a species of Maranta, which is called Sago and 

 Tapioca. It is used for making sweet cakes, and on that account is so much sought 

 for that its price rises, at times, to forty cents a pound. Another kind of flour is 

 made of the roots of Canna indica, of which I found there two varieties, one with 

 red, and the other with yellow blossoms, which are called Achia, and the flour 

 Chuno, from which the finest biscuits are prepared. 



There is a great deal of carrying done on this road between Peru and Ecuador, 

 on the backs of donkeys, as they are the only animals, besides the goats, wliich 

 content tliemselves with tlie leaves they nip from the trees and bushes growing in 

 the desert. All otlier animals have to be nourished with the Algarobo, a fruit 

 similar to the St. John's bread, which has to be carried for that purpose. The 

 inhabitants also use tliis fruit, preparing from it a kind of mush, magamora. The 

 principal article of the commerce is salt, brought from the mines in the desert of 

 Sechura, and brown sugar, dvJce, is taken in return. 



Although thieving is the crime most frequently committed in those countries, on 

 the borders of Ecuador and Peru it is appalling. The Escrihano publico of Caria- 

 manga showed me a list of four pages, foolscap, containing the names of fugitives 

 from law in that district, the greatest number of them for stealing. The proprie- 

 tors and overseers of haciendas in Peru near Piura complain of the great number 

 of animals stolen every year. The cause of this enormous increase of crime in 

 these regions is the facility with which the perpetrators can evade punishment by 

 simply crossing the frontier, wliich liberates them from prosecution. For that 

 reason a thief, when caught, is summarily punished by the injured owner by giving 

 him a good thrashing. It appears that in those countries theft is considered not 

 so much a legal crime as a sin. The lad who, on the first day after my arrival in 

 Quito and on the first day after entering my service, stole the box containing my 

 spare watch and watch-springs, though convicted of the theft, a couple of weeks 

 later was acting as the janitor of the convent of Recoletos, whereto wealthy per- 

 sons frequently retire for a time to repent of their sins. The Prefect of Piura, to 

 whom I offered my services as a witness to commit the three Arrieros with whom 

 I passed the desert of Piura of the theft of goats, made no use of that offer, saying 



