THE AQUARIUM, OCTOBER, 1896. re) 
was now on his return, had seen my 
mule near Mutiscua, and he suggested 
that his people, who had remained be- 
hind, would probably have caught my 
mule and bring her along with them ; 
indeed, about mid-day I was so happy 
as to see my mule again. ‘T’o the peo- 
ple who brought the beast I paid one 
dollar, and to every one a drink, by way 
of contribution. It was too late now 
to start that day, so I resolved, there- 
fore, to proceed the next day, very early, 
and did so. 
From here are three leagues, half of 
it still in the Paramo; the other half is 
a horrible slope, before reaching Tona, 
at every path increasing in richness of 
vegetation. At the end of the Paramo 
there is a cottage, from which a wo- 
man called to me by name, and asked 
me if I would be so kind as to dis- 
mount for a moment. Politeness is 
very seldom experienced in this re- 
gion, but in this case there was a mo- 
tive for it. When I passed, two and a 
half months ago, for the first time on 
this road, the night surprised me, and 
I was obliged to ask her for a night’s 
lodging. ‘There was a small boy of 
seven or eight years, whose eyes were 
full of suppuration ; I myself washed 
his eyes with warm camomile tea, and 
-as I did not know what more to apply 
or prescribe, I wetted a piece of linen 
with the white of an egg, and covered 
his eyes with it. It is easy to fancy 
how terrified I was a week later, on 
my return, when passing there, to see 
the poor boy just as I had left him, 
with his eyes glued. I thought my 
practice would have occasioned bad 
consequences, but, happily, and to my 
greatest surprise, after removing the 
rag with warm water, his eyes were 
perfectly re-established. A stranger, 
in the opinion of the people, must al- 
ways be something of a doctor, and 
they would take it to show a want of 
good will, should one deny to lend 
medical assistance when it is wanted. 
I am not very formal in the choice of 
remedies, and apply, in specially diffi- 
cult cases, pills made of a little bread 
and epsom salts, the fingers being al- 
ways sufficiently dirty to give them, by 
kneading and twisting, a professional 
appearance. Faith renders the doses 
efficacious, and I am not astonished 
when people thank me afterwards for 
my good services, as this poor woman 
did : she offered me a cup of soup. 
Such people do not believe medicine 
to be efficacious if it is not dear, or has 
no disgusting taste. In general, the 
people on the Paramos are inhospitable, 
lazy, extremely dirty, superstitious, 
thievish, distrustful, cowardly, and, 
therefore, cunning. They have some- 
thing of the character of gypsies ; with 
all that, the journeys in the glacial 
Sahara, as it may be called, are the 
most disagreeable ones imaginable. 
From the end of the Paramos one 
descends rapidly and continuously till, 
after two hours, we arrive at a small, 
unfriendly town. There exists no inn, 
but a shopkeeper of my acquaintance 
offers to lodge me in his house. A let- 
ter of recommendation to the clergy- 
man, Dr. P., which sometimes is of 
great use, is delivered, and after dinner 
Iam so fortunate as to meet with the 
man in whose territorial possession, one 
league distant, I intend to pick up my 
plants. Mr. M. is very glad to see me 
again, and we arrange to meet the next 
day, he undertaking to procure two 
workmen, axes, and beasts, for the 
transport of the collected plants. The 
next day I meet Mr. M. at ten o’clock, 
the worse for drink, and when I speak 
to him about our agreement he begins 
