22 HUGO RIED'S ACCOUNT or THE INDIANS 



tumbling down from above. The bones were then buried 

 and the people returned to their huts. 



Shortly afterwards, the chief saw some one coming and 

 went to meet him ; " Where are you going, where are you 

 from ? " " From Verduga." " Oh ! " said the chief, " How 

 are you getting on there ? " " Very well, the chief is get- 

 ting another wife, and a great feast is preparing." "Be it 

 so," said he, " they have laughed much at me, now we 

 shall laugh and all perish together. What were they do- 

 ing when you left this morning ? " " The women had all 

 gone to gather prickly pears." Hearing this, he went to 

 where the women were gathered, and said, " What are 

 you gathering so many prickly pears for?" "For the 

 feast," said they, "as the captain is to be married." 

 " Take a sieve," said he to an old woman, " and fill it with 

 tunas 14 and sift the fine thorns into my eyes." She re- 

 fused ; he insisted and the others told her to do as com- 

 manded. He opened his eyes wide and she commenced, 

 when all of the women set up a wail at once. They 

 were blind. He burst out laughing and said, " Now I 

 laugh, it is my turn now." He left them and went to 

 where the feast was prepared, and going round to the west 

 side changed himself into a huge eagle and went, low 

 down, to where the feast was. On seeing an eagle come, 

 they cried out, " Catch it, catch it I" with the exception of 

 an old woman who was taking care of her grandchildren 

 during her daughter's absence, who immediately covered 

 the children with a blanket, and cried out to the people 

 not to touch the eagle, as it was a human being and not a 

 bird. The people only called her an old liar, and pro- 

 ceeded to catch it, which they did. " Let us pull its 

 wings off," said they, and they did so. Blood gushed out 

 from one side and green matter from the other. Fever 

 and bilious vomiting commenced among them, and killed 



