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MANNERS, CUSTOMS, <Scc. 



OF 



NATIONS AND CLASSES op PEOPLE. 



PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF TRA- 

 VELS, &C. BY ALEXANDER DE 

 HUMBOLT. 



( Trandaledhy Helen Maria JVil- 

 liams). 



THE road skirted with bam- 

 boos led us to the small vil- 

 lage of San Fernando, which is 

 situate in a narrow plain, sur- 

 rounded by very steep calca- 

 reous rocks. Tin's was the first 

 mission * we saw in America. 

 The houses, or rather the huts of 

 the Chayma Indians, separated 

 from each other, are not sur- 

 rounded by gardens. The streets, 

 which are wide and very straight, 



* A certain number of habitations 

 collected round a church, a mis- 

 sionary monk performing the minis- 

 terial duties, is called in the Spanish 

 colonies Mision or Pueblo de mision. 

 Indian villages, governed by a priest, 

 are called Fuehhs de Uoctrina. They 

 make a dislmction between the Cura 

 dodrinero, who is the priest of an 

 Indiar parish, antl the Cum rector, 

 priest of a village inhabited by whites 

 and men of mixed race. 



cross each other at right angles. 

 The walls, which are very thin 

 and slight, are made of clay, 

 strengthened by lianas. The uni- 

 formity of this construction, the 

 grave and taciturn air of the in- 

 habitants, and the extreme neat- 

 ness that reigns throughout their 

 habitations, reminded us of the 

 establishments of the Moravian 

 brethren. Every Indian family 

 cultivates, at some distance from 

 the village, besides its own gar- 

 den, the conuco* of the commu- 

 nity. In this the adults of each 

 sect work one hour in the morn- 

 ing, and one in the evening. In 

 the missions nearest the coast, the 

 garden of the community is gene- 

 rally a sugar or indigo plantation, 

 under the direction of the mis- 

 sionary; and the produce of 

 which, were the law strictly ob- 

 served, can be employed only for 

 the support of the church, and 

 the purchase of the sacerdotal or- 

 naments. The great square of 

 San Fernando, in the centre of 



* Conuco de la communidad. 



the 



