CROSSING THE EASTERN ANDES 93 



honest folk was touching, and we took away with us only 

 the most pleasant memories and friendliest feeling. 



After a three days' ride through level plains and gently 

 rolling grasslands we forded the Rio Suaza and drew rein 

 in the town of Guadaloupe. It stands at the foot of the 

 Cordillera Oriental. A trail was being constructed from 

 this point across the mountains and into Amazonian drain- 

 age; however, work had little more than begun, and the 

 reports of the route we had from the villagers were not very 

 encouraging. 



There was nothing of particular interest about the vil- 

 lage. We moved to a site known as La Danta three thou- 

 sand five hundred feet up the slope. There was abundant 

 woods all around in which we hunted with good results 

 nearly three weeks. 



One day a party of Indians made camp on the bank of a 

 creek not far from La Danta, and immediately built a 

 rock and mud dam across the little waterway. Then they 

 crushed a great many leaves of the yucca-plant and threw 

 them into the stream. The milky juice quickly mingled 

 with the water, and soon scores of catfish came to the top, 

 stupefied 'by the poison, and floating on their backs. They 

 were gathered by the basketful and taken away by the 

 Indians. These catfish, living in rapid mountain streams, 

 are provided with a sucking disk which enables them to 

 attach themselves to a rock to rest; otherwise they would 

 be washed down stream, as they are not very powerful 

 swimmers. 



The cost of being married is so high in some South Ameri- 

 can countries that in many cases the ceremony is dispensed 

 with. Occasionally, however, bands of missionaries visit a 

 region and attempt to undo the wrong inflicted by the local 

 padres by uniting in marriage free of charge all those who 

 appear before them for that purpose. The padres are not 

 always to blame; frequently the inhabitants are simply too 

 indifferent or lazy to go through the formalities, or there may 

 be no one in their midst to look after their spiritual wants. 



