112 The Andes and the Amazon. 



off his hat as he passes, and muttering, "Blessed be the 

 altar of God," he is nevertheless very slow to perform. 

 Soured by long ill treatment, he will hardly do any thing 

 unless he is compelled. And he will do nothing well un- 

 less he is treated as a slave. Treat him kindly, and you 

 make him a thief ; whip him, and he will rise up to thank 

 you and be your humble servant. A certain curate could 

 never trust his Indian to carry important letters until he 

 had given him twenty-five lashes. Servile and timid, su- 

 perstitious and indolent, the Quichuans have not half the 

 spirit of our Xorth American Indians. It has passed into 

 a proverb that "the Indian lives without shame, eats with- 

 out repugnance, and dies without fear." Abject as they 

 are, however, they are not wholly without wit. By a se- 

 cret telegraph system, they will communicate between 

 Quito and Riobamba in one hour. When there was a bat- 

 tle in Pasto, the Indians of Riobamba knew of it two 

 hours after, though eighty leagues distant. 



The civilization of South America three centuries ago 

 was nearly confined to this Andean family, though they 

 had attained only to the bronze period. In the milder 

 character of their ancient religion and gentleness of dis- 

 position they are strongly distinguished from the nations 

 that encircled the vale of Anahuac, the centre of civihza- 

 tion on the northern continent. But little of this former 

 glory is now apparent. The Incas reached an astronom- 

 ical knowledge which astonished the Spaniards, but the 

 Quichuans of to-day count vaguely by moons and rains. 

 Great is the contrast between the architecture of this cen- 

 tury and that in the days of Huayna-Capac. There are 

 few Incarial relics, however, in the Yalley of Quito, for 

 the Incas ruled there only half a century. The chief 



different lengths tied in a row. The ' ' plaintive national songs" which Mark- 

 ham heard at Cuzco are not sung in Ecuador. 



