Capuchin Missions of the Caro7ii. 271 



which had mortified for want of surgical aid. He had been 

 draughted for the cavah'y, but having become unserviceable 

 from an injury to the ancle, was sent home without any attempt 

 to cure him. The doctor attended the dressing, and gave verbal 

 instructions ; which, however, would have been too late, had 

 they been attended to, which the old lady took care they should 

 not be. This poor man had been every way a sufferer; his 

 peons had been taken off, and himself and all his family attacked 

 by the fever ; the weeds had overgrown his plantation, and he 

 was in the lowest state of poverty. Returning to town, found 

 the commissioner much better, which gave us confidence, and 

 induced us to delay our journey till we could pronounce him 

 out of danger. The fame of our arrival had spread far and 

 wide, and applications to the doctor poured in from all parts ; 

 patients abounded, for the most part cases of fever : having 

 very little medicine, it was difficult to satisfy all. Bark and 

 hijeretta, or castor-oil, were the only medicines procurable ; 

 but all dreaded the trial of them. One old woman only had 

 confidence enough to persevere in the use of bark, and she 

 recovered. 



4th. At half past six A.M. made an excursion for about a 

 league to the northward. Crossing the brook, passed a small 

 savanna, and entered the woods. A steep and rocky ascent 

 lay before us. No sooner had we surmounted this, keeping 

 the Alta Graci^ road, than we entered upon a beautiful little 

 vale, studded with small conucos of the richest appearance. 

 Visited seven or eight, each seemed to cover about 30 acres ; 

 they belonged to Creole families, who cultivated with their own 

 hands, and those of a few slaves, occasionally hiring the Indians 

 to assist in getting in the crop. Cultivation chiefly of provi- 

 sions, with a little coffee and cotton ; the former appeared to 

 thrive. Soil rich, but the exuberance of weeds indicated the 

 ravages of the fever and conscription. Scarcely a man was to 

 be seen. Rode up to one to procure information about the 

 cinchona ; the family was at breakfast on rice and haropa, the 

 favourite food : a very small piece of meat served to flavour the 

 mess. Calabashes and fingers were the only utensils of the 

 T 2 



