MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



439 



the village, contains the church, 

 the dwelling of the missionary, 

 and that humble edifice, which is 

 pompously called the king's 

 house — Casa del Rey. This is a 

 real caravanserai, destined to 

 lodge travellers ; and, as we often 

 experienced, infinitely valuable 

 in a country, where the name of 

 an inn is still unknown. The 

 Casas del Rey are to be found in 

 all the Spanish colonies, and may 

 be deemed an imitation of the 

 tamboes of Peru, established ac 

 cording to the laws of Manco 

 Capac. 



We had been recommended to 

 the friars, who govern the Mis- 

 sions of the Chayma Indians, by 

 their syndic, who resides at Cu- 

 mana. This recommendation was 

 so much the more useful to us, 

 as the missionaries, either from 

 zeal for the purity of the morals 

 of their pa»ishioners, or to con- 

 ceal the monastic system from 

 the indiscreet curiosity of stran- 

 gers, often adhere with rigor to 

 an old regulation, by which a 

 white man of the secular state is 

 not permitted to sojourn more 

 than one night in an Indian vil- 

 lage. In order to travel agree- 

 ably in the Spanish Missions, it 

 would be in general imprudent, 

 to trust solely to a passport issued 

 by the secretary of state's office 

 at Madrid, or that of the civil 

 governors. A traveller must pro- 

 vide himself with recommenda- 

 tions from the ecclesiastical au- 

 thorities, particularly from the 

 guardians of the convents, or the 

 generals of the orders, residing 

 at Rome ; who are infinitely more 

 respected by the missionaries, 

 than are the bishops. The Mis- 

 sions form, I will not say accord- 



ing to their primitive and cano- 

 nical institutions, but in fact, a 

 distinct and nearly independent 

 hierarchy, the views of which 

 seldom accord with those of the 

 secular clergy. 



The missionary of San Fer- 

 nando was a capuchin, a native 

 of Arragon, far advanced in 

 years, but strong and healthy. 

 His extreme corpulency, his hi- 

 larity, the interest he took in 

 battles and sieges, ill accorded 

 with the ideas we form in our 

 northern countries of the melan- 

 choly reveries, and the con- 

 templative life of missionaries. 

 Though extremely busy about a 

 cow, which was to be killed the 

 next dayj the old monk received 

 us with kindness, and permitted 

 us to hang up our hammocks in 

 a gallery of his house. Seated, 

 without doing any thing, the 

 greater part of the day, in an arm 

 chair of red wood, be bitterly 

 complained of what he called the 

 indolence and ignorance of his 

 countrymen. He asked a thou- 

 sand questions on the real object 

 of our journej', which appeared 

 to him hazardous, and at all 

 events useless. Here, as at Oro- 

 noko, we were fatigued by that 

 restless curiosity, which the Eu- 

 ropeans preserve in the forests of 

 America, respecting the wars and 

 political convulsions of the Old 

 World. 



Our missionary, however, seem- 

 ed well satisfied with his situation. 

 He treated the Indians with mild- 

 ness ; he beheld his mission pro- 

 sper, and he praised with enthu- 

 siasm the waters, the bananas, 

 and the dairy produce of the 

 canton. The sight of our instru- 

 ments, our books, and our dried 



plants, 



