I 



Eating Lice. 181 



flat stone, witli another smaller one to rub over it, was the 

 mill for grinding corn ; and we were astonished to see how 

 quickly our hostess reduced the grains to an impalpable 

 meal. The only thing that looked like a bed was a stiff 

 rawhide thrown over a series of round poles running 

 lengthwise. This primitive couch, and likewise the whole 

 house, the obsequious governor gave up to us, insisting 

 upon sleeping with his wife and little ones outside, though 

 the nights were cold and uncomfortable. Parents and 

 cliildren were of the eartli, earthy — unwashed, uncombed, 

 and disgustingly filthy. We found the governor one day 

 taking lice for his lunch. Sitting behind his little boy, he 

 picked out the little parasites with his nails, and crushed 

 them between his teeth with a look of satisfaction. Eating 

 lice is an old Indian custom, and imiversal in the Andes. In 

 Inca times it was considered an infallible remedy against 

 sore eyes. "We have seen half a dozen women sitting on 

 the ground in a row, picking out vermin from each other's 

 heads. We thought the arrangement was a little unfair, for 

 the first in the series had no lice to eat, and the animals 

 were left to roam undisturbed in the capillary forest of 

 the last. 



Papallacta is a village of thirty dwellings, situated in a 

 deep valley on the north slope of Antisana, nearly sur- 

 rounded by an amphitheatre of sandstone and basaltic 

 precipices. Here, too, is the terminus of the fourth great 

 lava stream from the volcano ; it is not mentioned by 

 Humboldt. Papallacta is a thousand feet higher than 

 Quito, yet vegetation is more tropical. Its name. signifies 

 "the potato country," but not a potato could we find here. 

 Though Mancheno was governor, he was not really the 

 greatest man in Papallacta. This was Carlos Caguatijo ; he 

 was the ruling man, for he could read, write, and speak Span- 

 ish, while the governor knew nothing but Quichua. Car- 



