THE GEOGRAPHIC BASIS OF HUMAN CHARACTER 95 



ably inquired the purpose of our journey. When it was explained, 

 he turned to the other and said it was unthinkable that men should 

 be treated so inhospitably in a strange land. Though he himself 

 was a guest he urged that the host should remember the laws of 

 hospitality, whereupon the latter at last grudgingly asked us to join 

 him at his table and to turn our beasts over to his servants. It was 

 an hour or more before he would exhibit any interest in us. When 

 he had learned of our object in visiting Abancay he became some- 

 what more friendly, though his hostility still manifested itself. 

 Nowhere else in South America have I seen exhibited such boorish 

 conduct. Nevertheless the next morning I noticed that our mules 

 had been well fed. He said good-by to us as if he were glad to 

 be rid of any one in any way connected with the hostile govern- 

 ment. Likewise the manager at Hacienda Pasaje held out almost 

 until the last before he would consent to aid us with fresh beasts. 

 Finally, after a day of courting I gave him a camp chair. He was 

 so pleased that he not only gave us beasts, but also a letter of 

 introduction to one of his caretakers on a farm at the top of the 

 cuesta. Here on a cold, stormy night we found food and fuel and 

 the shelter of a friendly roof. 



A by-product of the revolution, as of all revolutions in thinly 

 settled frontier regions, was the organization of small bands of 

 outlaws who infested the lonely trails, stole beasts, and left their 

 owners robbed and helpless far from settlements. We were cau- 

 tioned to beware of them, both by Senor Gonzales, the Prefect at 

 Abancay, and by the Subprefect of Antabamba. Since some of 

 the bandits had been jailed, I could not doubt the accuracy of the 

 reports, but I did doubt stories of murder and of raids by large 

 companies of mountain bandits. As a matter of fact we. were 

 robbed by the Governor of Antabamba, but in a way that did not 

 enable us to find redress in either law or lead. The story is worth 

 telling because it illustrates two important facts: first, the vile 

 so-called government that exists in some places in the really 

 remote sections of South America, and second, the character of 

 the mountain Indians. 



The urgent letter from the Prefect of Abancay to the Sub- 



