284 CARGUEROS, OR MEN-CARRIERS. 



reflects on the enormous fatigue to which these bear- 

 ers are exposed, he is at a loss to conceive how the 

 employment should be so eagerly embraced by all 

 the robust young men who live at the foot of the 

 Andes. The passage of Quindiu is not the only part 

 of South America which is traversed in this manner. 

 The whole province of Antioquia is surrounded by 

 mountains so difficult to be crossed, that those who 

 refuse to trust themselves to the skill of a carguero, 

 and are not strong enough' to travel on foot, must re- 

 linquish all thoughts of leaving the country. The 

 number of persons who follow this laborious occu- 

 pation, at Choco, Hague, and Medellin, is so great 

 that our travellers sometimes met a file of fifty or 

 sixty. Near the mines of Mexico there are also 

 individuals who have no other employment than that 

 of carrying men on their backs. 



The cargueros, in crossing the forest of Quindiu, 

 take with them bundles of the large oval leaves of the 

 vijao, a plant of the banana family, the peculiar var- 

 nish of which enables them to resist rain. A hun- 

 dredweight of these leaves is sufficient to cover a 

 hut large enough to hold six or eight persons. When 

 they come to a convenient spot where they intend 

 to pass the night, the carriers lop a few branches from 

 the trees, with which they construct a frame ; it is 

 then divided into squares by the stalks of some climb- 

 ing plant, or threads of agave, on which are hung 

 the vijao leaves, by means of a cut made in their 

 midrib. In one of these tents, which are cool, com- 

 modious, and perfectly dry, our travellers passed 

 several days in the valley of Boquia, amid violent 

 and incessant rains. 



From these mountains, where the truncated cone 

 of Tolima, covered with perennial snow, rises amid 

 forests of styrax, arborescent pasiflorae, bamboos, and 

 waxpalms, they descended into the valley of Cauca 

 towards the west. After resting some time at Ca- 

 thago and Buga, they coasted the province of Choco, 



