310 SOUTH AMEEICA— THE ANDES EEGIONS. 



iu size and arcliitectural beauty, as well as in their wealth of metal objects, 

 earthenware and woven fabrics. But the nation itself has been merged in the 

 mass of the surrounding half-caste populations. One of their dialects was still 

 current in the middle of the seventeenth century on the coastlands near Trujillo, 

 but it now survives only in Fernando de la Carrera's grammar. 



On the Amazonian slope the native populations have been protected by their 

 hot and moist climate, their vast forests, precipices and dangerous rivers. But 

 they have suffered especially from the epidemics introduced by the whites, and 

 most of the villages founded by the missionaries have been depopulated mainly 

 by these contagious disorders. Thus disappeared San Francisco de Borja on the 

 Marahon, where the smallpox broke out in 1660 and, spreading to the surrounding 

 missions, swept away 44,000 Indians. Nine years afterwards the same scourge 

 carried off 20,000 fresh victims, and its repeated visits have left vast solitudes in 

 the country. 



The greatest sufferers were always the Mansos, " tame," or semi-civilised, 

 enfeebled by their very change of life ; hence at present the Iiidios bravos, that is 

 the independent wild tribes, are far more numerous than the Mansos. Those 

 occupying the east foot of the Carabaya mountains have successfully risen against 

 the Spanish intruders, and destroyed the colonies that had been founded in their 

 territory. All these Indians, collectively known as Chunchos, that is, " Barbarians " 

 in the Quichua language, are probably of Antis stock. 



The Antis proper, who have given their name to the surrounding mountains, 

 and by extension to the Ande^ themselves, are a mere remnant of- the nation. 

 These Campas, as they are also called, are of mean stature, with more graceful 

 figures than the Quichuas, although betraying more of a Mongolie type in their 

 slio-htly oblique eyes, flat nose and prominent cheekbones. They show remarkable 

 skill in taming wild animals, which are kept in menageries in their forest glades. 

 Amongst these " pets " are not only poultry and other birds, but peccaries, 

 capybaras (water cavies) and even tapirs. 



The Antis have not yet forgotten all the practices which they formerly 

 learned at the Franciscan missions. But the old religious ideas have been little 

 modified and a belief iu witchcraft is still universal. All maladies are caused 

 by the machinations of some witch, who when discovered by a counter-spell is 

 strangled, with the approbation of her kinsfolk. They still sing a kind of litany, 

 the form of which was probably acquired at the old missions. But the words 

 are very different, the Catholic formularies having been replaced by an oath of 

 brotherhood probably dating from the time when they rose against the Spaniards 



" If vou hunger, I will share with you my game and my fish and the fruits of 

 my garden, for you are a Campa ! If you are attacked by an enemy, I will 

 expose my life to defend you, for you are a Campa ! If the devil compasses your 

 death, your children shall be mine, for you are a Campa, and the Campas should 

 love one another." 



The reiterated " For you are a Campa " produces just the effect of the " Ora 

 pro nobis " of the Catholic litany. 



