100 THE ANDES OF SOUTHERN PERU 



rapher rode to the summit of a bluff and asked which of the two 

 trails I intended to follow. Just then a solitary Indian passed 

 and I shouted back that I would engage the Indian and precede 

 the party, and he could tell from my course at the fork of the 

 trail how to direct his map and where to gain camp at nightfall. 

 But the Indian refused to go with us. All my threatening was 

 useless and I had to force myself to beat him into submission with 

 my quirt. Several repetitions on the way, when he stubbornly re- 

 fused to go further, kept our guide with us until we reached a 

 camp site. I had offered him a week's pay for two hours' work, 

 and had put coca and cigarettes into his hands. When these 

 failed I had to resort to force. Now that he was about to leave I 

 gave him double the amount I had promised him. He could 

 scarcely believe his eyes. He rushed up to the side of my mule, 

 and reaching around my waist embraced me and thanked me 

 again and again. The plateau Indian is so often waylaid in the 

 mountains and impressed for service, then turned loose without 

 pay or actually robbed, that a promise to pay holds no attraction 

 for him. I had up to the last moment resembled this class of 

 white. He was astonished to find that I really meant to pay him 

 well. 



Then he set out upon the return, faithfully delivering my note 

 to the topographer about the course of the trail and the position 

 of the camp. He had twelve miles to go to the first mountain hut, 

 so that he could not have traveled less than that distance to reach 

 shelter. The next morning a mantle of snow covered everything, 

 yet when I pushed back the tent flap there stood my scantily clad 

 Indian of the night before, shivering, with sandaled feet in the 

 snow, saying that he had come back to work for me ! 



This camp was number thirteen out of Abancay, and here our 

 topographer was laid up for three days. Heretofore the elevation 

 had had no effect upon him, but the excessively lofty stations of 

 the past few days and the hard climbing had finally prostrated 

 him. We had decided to carry him out by the fourth day if he 

 felt no better, but happily he recovered sufficiently to continue the 

 work. The delay enabled the Governor to overtake us with a fresh 



