120 PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION. [PART I. 



physical strength. Their usual burden (stated by Tschudi to 

 amount only to 50-75 pounds), which they bring up twelve times 

 daily from a depth of 450 feet, exceeds in weight 200 pounds. 1 

 The Indian porters in Peru carry on their straps, chests weigh- 

 ing above 100 pounds. 2 The journey from Pasco to Lima, 

 fifty leagues, is performed by the Indian on foot within three 

 days. 3 Tschudi relates similar feats of the march of Indian 

 troops in war. ' { Wherever the experiment has been made, it 

 has been shown that the Indian is capable of sustaining a 

 higher degree of physical effort than the strongest European." 4 

 The Indians of Quito can, during the greater part of the day, 

 carry a vessel upon the back containing twelve to sixteen 

 gallons of water. 5 The Indians of Caracas carry on their jour- 

 neys, burdens of about 200 pounds. 6 Captain Head 7 says, 

 "In the mines of South America I saw Indians work with tools 

 which were too heavy for our miners, and carry burdens which 

 no Englishman could have carried. I appeal to such travellers 

 who have been carried by them across the snow, and ask them 

 whether they could have performed the same service to the 

 Indians, and if not, it seems certainly strange that a civilized 

 man should despise the physical power of a fellow man upon 

 whose shoulders he rides " On proceeding northwards we 

 hear that the Indians in Central America perform five to six 

 leagues with a burden of six arrobes, 8 and that the Indians 

 of Mexico bring up from the mines from 13 to 16 J arrobes 

 upon their shoulders. 9 It must however be noticed that the 

 miners in Zacatecas are not pure Indians but Mestizoes, who 



1 Darwin, " Naturalists voyage/' ii, p. 113, 1844; Andrews, "Journey from 

 B. Ayres to the prov. of Cordova," etc., i, p. xxi, 1827. 



2 Poppig, " Reise," ii, p. 313 ; Weddel, " Voy. dans le Nord de Bolivie," 

 p. 305, 1853. 



3 Proctor, " Narr. of a Journey across the Cordillera, p. 314, 1825. 



4 W. Parish, " B. Ayres and the prov. of the La Plata," p. 291, 1838 ; and 

 Molina, " Essai sur 1'hist, nat. du Chili, p. 314, 1789. 



5 Stevenson, ii, p. 176. 



6 Semple, " Sketch of the present state of Caracas," p. 79, 1812. 



1 "Rough Notes taken during some journeys across the Pampas," p. 113, 

 2nd edit., 1826. 



8 Legendre in d'Urville, " Voy. au Pole, Sud.," x, p. 291, 1841. 



9 Ward, " Mexico in the year 1827," ii, p. 201, Wehn., 1828. 



