PREPARATIONS FOR OUR DEPARTURE 167 



institute comparisons and take an intelligent interest in 

 articles of which he knew something. It was different 

 with those more complex works so far beyond his simple 

 experience. 



When the Indians left for their settlement at Mura 

 it was arranged that they should return on the 21st 

 (December), the 22nd being the day we had fixed upon 

 for om* departure from La Prision. To have allowed the 

 men to spend Christmas at the settlement would have 

 entailed a delay of several days, perhaps of a couple of 

 weeks, for the Christmas drunk of the jpeoii, once started, 

 is not to be interfered with. The Indians came on the 

 morning of the 21st as they had promised, and we spent 

 the whole day making up the provisions and our other 

 things into packages of convenient sizes for loading the 

 dug-outs. It was while this was being done that I 

 realised to some extent the extraordinary aptitude for 

 consuming food possessed by the men, who looked upon 

 me as their purveyor for the time being, and for so long 

 as I could supply them with all they wanted and their 

 day's pay. The ten days spent at La Prision had been 

 expensive ones. While we had been waiting for Facundo 

 to get better, the men, finding that time hung heavily on 

 their hands, whiled the hours away by cooking and eating. 

 The Trinidad men and myself, who left the house early 

 in the morning on our collecting excursions to return 

 only late in the afternoon, had had no opportunities of 

 observing the proceedings of the Venezuelan contingent. 

 ' The eye of the master fatteneth the horse.' In the 

 absence of the master the servant fatteneth himself, was 

 the improvement my men had made on the old proverb ; 

 and if there were any who had not succeeded in gaining 

 flesh at La Prision it was not through lack of trying. 



