THE ROAD TO BOLIVIA 275 



his back and a bright-colored 'poncho^ he travels barefooted from 

 the Isthmus of Panama to Magellan Strait, carrying a pack filled 

 with dried herbs done up in neat paper packages, cheap jewelry, 

 pocket handkerchiefs and ribbons, watches and other articles for per- 

 sonal adornment, knives, forks and spoons, scissors, small mirrors, 

 combs and brushes, and other small merchandise, which he sells for 

 cash or trades for eggs and poultry, chocolate, beans, and cocoa, to be 

 exchanged at the next town for more portable propert3^ 



The Indian women are ingenious and industrious, and have re- 

 markable taste in colors and designs. They love gay tints and em- 

 broideries and wear quantities of adornments. They have a distinct- 

 ive costume of home manufacture, which the dealers in imported 

 goods fortunatel}^ have not been able to disturb. They usually wear 

 a little Panama hat, braided of soft white fiber, with a black band, 

 perched jauntily upon their abundant black hair-, which hangs in two 

 long braids down their backs. Their dresses resemble those worn by 

 the peasants in the T3a'ol. The short skirts of gay colors hang above 

 the shoe tops, and reveal gay hosiery and native shoes of bright- 

 colored leather, with long laces and high French heels. Sometimes 

 the shoes are white, sometimes yellow, red, or purple — the brighter 

 the better — and any color except black. Under the skirt are an in- 

 definite number of white petticoats, elaborately embroidered and 

 edged with lace. The waists are made of bright-colored calico, vel- 

 veteen, and other fabrics, and around their shoulders they wear light 

 shawls or scarfs, called rebozos. 



The men go ])arefooted and barelegged and wear short, wide trousers 

 of dark woolen cloth that are slit up the back as far as the knee, so 

 as to give their legs free action in climbing the mountain trails. Under 

 these trousers they liave white cotton drawers, which alwa.ys seem to 

 be clean and well laundered. U]ion their heads they wear close- 

 fitting caps or hoods of knitted work or some dark woolen cloth that 

 fit closely down over the ears and the neck like the hoods children 

 wear in cold weather in New England. U])on this tliey wear hats of 

 straw or felt, while their bodies are i)rotected b}^ the inevitable poncho, 

 whicli is their coat by day and their blanket b}^ night, a comi)re- 

 hensive as well as comfortable garment. 



Colonel Jose Manuel Pando, the successful leader of the late revolu- 

 tion in Bolivia, chief of the lib(!ral party and President of the Republic, 

 resem)>les General Grant in appearance and maimers. He is a stub- 

 born man, so self-contained, silent, and immovable that they call him 



