Journal of an Officer serving in Columbia. 
from the whining manner they speak, 
you would be led. to suppose them 
always crying or moaning. They lie 
together in groupes, and show no 
symptoms of modesty or forbearance 
before strangers; nor will the men 
seruple to oblige a stranger with a 
bedfellow, provided the reward. be 
tantamount to the favour ; but, as nei- 
ther our men or the Creoles seemed to 
prize the Wahira ladies, they were left 
to their more easy lords. This tribe 
came from Peru about three years be- 
fore, for no other reason than one of 
them having been tarred and feathered 
hy a boat’s crew, for thieving a hat- 
buckle. They amounted to about 200 
in all, and were very useful and trust- 
worthy, and could be depended on to 
carry despatches to any distance. 
They could hardly fix their abode on 
a spot more favoured by nature than 
this, yet they were preparing to depart. 
Here we got abundance of ¢asso, or 
beef dried in the sun, and cured with 
lime-juice; also eggs, fowls, plenty of 
doves, silyer pheasants, (with which 
this country abounds, and, being ex- 
cellent marksmen with their arrows, 
they seldom miss them,) and guanas, 
to which, from their likeness to the 
lizard, | felt a degree of antipathy, but, 
conquering it, I found them eat more 
tender even than chicken; the Indians 
prefer the macaw to those other birds. 
Here we found the small peacock and 
white heron domesticated. From the 
manner they supplied us the two even- 
ings we stopt, (sending out fifteen or 
sixteen men to kill fowl, and forage 
for other things,) I suppose they can 
live comfortably without any industry 
but hunting. Next morning I accom- 
panied these people to chase the 
mountain- goat and mountain - deer. 
Six or seven place themselves in am- 
bush on the rocky tracts where those 
creatures resort ; others hunt the plains 
with dogs trained for the purpose ; and 
some mount the highest trees, to 
watch their motions, and direct. the 
hunters to the path they are taking on 
the rocks, who always form a barrier, 
to prevent their proceeding. In. this 
manner they take and destroy innu- 
merable herds of goats and deer: the 
deer of this province are beautifully 
dappled on a dun skin, and very saga- 
cious in their own preservation. 
_On our return we found our men 
had marched, having received orders 
during our absence; we waited to re- 
fresh ourselves, and were just -pre- 
[Aug. 1, 
paring to follow the route, when a 
scout arrived, and had conference with 
the chief of his tribe, who ran in con- 
fusion and told us, that the Spaniards 
had notice of our being left behind, 
and would soon pay us a visit, but he 
would outwit them ; so saying, he took 
out three jackets, and clothed as many 
Indians in them, with some chacoe 
caps belonging to men who had died. 
We proceeded about eight miles, until 
we came to a wood, when another In- 
dian joined us, and held conference 
with our guide, who informed us that 
the Spaniards were in ambush about 
half a league a-head, and that we must 
quit our horses, which he led into the 
thicket, and soon returned to us; he 
then scooped a hollow place large 
enough to contain each of us, which hie. 
covered with sand and leaves; he also 
wanted our fowling-pieces, but we 
would not give them up, as we appre- 
hended some treachery. Henow gave 
his orders to the Indians who were. to 
personate us, and couched himself 
alongside us in the same manner, de- 
siring us to be still and breathe softly, 
and we should see a good chase; which 
we soon did, as we distinctly heard the 
shouts of Spaniards pursuing the fu- 
gitive Indians, who soon passed us full 
gallop, with their pursuers about half 
a mile in their rear. The Indian 
raised himself a little, and counted the 
horsemen as they passed on. After 
some time he softly said, ‘‘ There are 
two yet missing, but we must not re- 
main here: out of forty there passed 
but thirty-eight;” counting the num- 
bers on his fingers, he held up two, and 
then bounded away from us, but soon 
appeared again with the horses, which 
we mounted, and followed him in full 
gallop: he now desired us not to at- 
tempt firing, unless we perceived they 
had firelocks. We soon came in sight 
of the two Spaniards, one of whom 
mounted, and rode away; the other’s 
horse being lame, and not able to pro- 
ceed, he took tohisheels. The Indian 
made signs that we should pursue the 
man on foot, while he pursued the 
horseman; we soon overtook the 
former, and, looking round, we per- 
ceived the Indian galloping back, 
dragging the strangled Spaniard after 
him, whom he had noosed with the cat- 
tle-leash, and pulled from his horse: 
he wanted to lance the other, but we 
would not suffer him. We made.the 
Spaniard mount the horse of his com- 
rade, and told him, that if he attempted 
to 
