24 IN THE WILDS OF SOUTH AMERICA 



footed mules are of service on this trail, each carrying not 

 more than two hundred pounds. 



The distance from Morales to Popayan is not great; 

 without cargo-mules it is an easy day's ride, but with a 

 caravan of tired, heavily laden animals that have come all 

 the way from Cali it is the part of wisdom to spend the 

 night at the little posada La Venta and ride into the city 

 early the next morning. Here a room and a good meal 

 can usually be had on short notice, but one must carry his 

 own cot and bedding, as luxuries of this kind are not fur- 

 nished in Colombian inns except in the larger cities. 



We were up and on our way early the next morning, for 

 it was market-day the day when the inhabitants from 

 miles around flock to the city to buy and sell and to have a 

 good time generally. It was our first visit and we could 

 not afford to miss such an interesting and typical sight. 



While still several miles distant from Popayan we began 

 to meet small parties of Indians that dotted the trail, 

 slowly wending their way toward the Mecca of the Upper 

 Cauca. By the time we had reached Belen, a settlement 

 of about twenty houses, the trail had widened into a beau- 

 tiful thoroughfare and was crowded with oncoming hordes. 

 These Indians are probably descendants of the ancient 

 Guanacas, while some are doubtless the offspring of the 

 tribe of Paeces which inhabits the Cordillera Central to the 

 north. Many, no doubt, still preserve the original purity of 

 the old stock, but the vast majority have mingled and in- 

 termarried with the native Colombians until one finds every 

 possible stage of intergradation. 



Before us passed the motliest crowd imaginable, each 

 bearing the fruit of his toil, to be appraised and sold in the 

 public plaza. There were small family parties, the man 

 leading a decrepit mule that threatened to collapse at every 

 step, laden with fruit and vegetables, fire-wood, hemp ropes 

 and bags, calabashes, pottery, or any one of a hundred dif- 

 ferent things. The wife, acting as auxiliary beast of bur- 

 den, carried the surplus. A band passed over the forehead 



