no 



FRANCISCO LOZANO. 



CHAP va 



Reception by 

 the mission- 

 jiries. 



Founding of 

 tlie mis-siuii. 



Francisco 

 Ltizanu. 



Sinijular 

 occarrema 



Camanacim 



superintend the missions of the Chaymas, by their 

 syndic at Cumana, and the superior, a corpulent and 

 jolly old capuchin, received them with kindness. This 

 respectable ])ersonage, seated the greater part of the day 

 in an arni-cliair, complained bitterly of the indolence of 

 his countrj-men. lie considered the pursuits of the 

 travellers as useless, smiled at the sight of their instru- 

 ments and dried plants, and maintained that of all the 

 enjoyments of life, without excepting sleep, none could 

 be compared with the pleasure of eating good beef. 



This mission was founded about the end of the seven- 

 teenth century, near tlie junction of the Manzanares and 

 Lucasperez ; but, in consequence of a fire, was removed 

 to its present situation. The number of families now 

 amounted to a hundred, and, as the head of the estab- 

 lishment observed, the custom of marrying at a very 

 early age contributes greatly to tlie rapid increase of 

 population. 



In the village of Arenas, which is inhabited by Indians 

 of tlie same race as those of San Fernando, there lived a 

 labourer, Francisco Lozano, who had suckled a child. 

 Its mother happening to be sick, he took it, and in 

 order to quiet it, pressed it to his breast, when the 

 stimulus imparted by the sucking of the child caused a 

 flow of milk. The travellers saw the certificate drawn 

 up on the spot to attest this remarkable fact, of which 

 several eyewitnesses were still living. The man was 

 not at Arenas during their stay at the mission, but 

 afterwards visited them at Cumana, accompanied by his 

 son, when j\I. Bonpland examined his breasts, and found 

 them wrinkled, like those of women who have nursed. 

 lie was not an Indian, but a white descended from 

 European parents. Alexander Benedictus relates a si- 

 milar case of an inhal)itant of Syria, and other authors 

 have given examjjles of the same nature. 



Returning towards Cumana, they entered the small 

 town of Cumanacoa, situated in a naked and almost 

 circular plain, surroundid by lofty mountains, and con- 

 taining about two thousand three hundred inhabitants. 



