

THE INDIANS. 



1 So 



wretchedly bad ; every crime obtains impunity 

 by the payment of a sum of money. An inno- 

 cent person is sometimes punished through the 

 interest of a great man, whom he may have 

 offended, and the murderer escapes who has the 

 good fortune to be under the protection of a 

 powerful patron. This proceeds still more from 

 the feudal state of the country than from the 

 corruption of the magistrates, who might often 

 be inclined to do their duty, and yet be aware 

 that their exertions would be of no avail, and 

 would possibly prove fatal to themselves. The 

 Indians have likewise their Capitaens-mores, and 

 this title is conferred for life ; it gives the 

 holder some power over his fellows, but as it is 

 among them unaccompanied by the possession of 

 property, the Indian Capitaem-mores are much 

 ridiculed by the whites ; and indeed the half- 

 naked officer with his gold-headed cane is a 

 personage w r ho would excite laughter from the 

 most rigid nerves. 



The Indians are in general a quiet and inof- 

 fensive people ; they have not much fidelity, but 

 although they desert, they will not injure those 

 whom they have served. Their lives are cer- 

 tainly not passed in a pleasant manner under 

 the eye of a director, by whom they are impe- 

 riously treated ; consequently it is not surprising 

 that they should do all in their power to leave 

 their villages, and be free from an immediate 



