LA PRISION— OUR QUAllTEliS 123 



one day they migrated in a body from their home near 

 the old boihng-house, so suddenly struck by famine, and 

 took up their abode close to this other land flowing with 

 honey, so that on this occasion my men did not have to 

 dispute the possession of the premises with an army 

 of ants. Longacre, Jacobson, and myself accepted Dona 

 Antonia's hospitality. Hers was the best house at the 

 settlement, and we made ourselves as comfortable as we 

 could under the circumstances. Within a few feet of our 

 quarters was the kitchen, the most important part of a 

 ranclio. Here the women spend the greater part of the 

 day and take their meals. I have never seen women of 

 the peasant class in the country districts sit at table with 

 the men. Most of the work at La Prision and the other 

 settlements where I have stayed falls to the lot of the 

 females of the family : and this is all the more tedious on 

 account of the absence of any implements for facilitating 

 manual labour. Even so necessary an article as an ordi- 

 nary grinding-mill is rarely seen in any household. Coffee, 

 corn, and the coarse salt used in the country are ground 

 upon a large flat stone which with time gets hollowed 

 out. Cakes made of Indian corn are the bread of the 

 peasantry. The making of these cakes, or arepas, as 

 they are called, is tiresome work, occupying a good deal 

 of the women's time. After pounding the corn, damped 

 with water, in a large wooden mortar so as to get rid of 

 the skin with which each grain is covered, the slow 

 process of triturating the coarse bits until the whole 

 assumes a soft consistency, is performed. The mass is 

 then kneaded in thick cakes, which are baked over the 

 fire. When the women are not cooking they do a little 

 sewing or wash the clothes of the household. 



What strikes one most forcibly while travelling through 



