SION. 



149 



alcalde brought us an egg to exchange for some ; and even the lieuten- 

 ant governor also expressed his desire for a little. We refused the 

 dignitaries, though we had given some to the ladies; for we had but 

 enough for two or three cups more. Their wants, however, were not 

 confined to sugar. They asked, without scruple, after a while, for any- 

 thing they saw ; and the lieutenant wanted a little sewing cotton, and 

 some of the soap we brought to wash ourselves with, to take for physic. 

 These things we could more easily part with, and I had no objection to 

 give him some, and also to regale his wife with a pair of pinchbeck ear- 

 rings. There is nothing made or cultivated here for sale. They raise 

 a few fowls and some yuccas and plantains for their own use ; and it 

 was well that we brought our own provisions along, or we might have 

 starved. 



I do not wonder at the indifference of the people to attempt to better 

 their condition. The power of the governor to take them from their 

 labor and send them on journeys of weeks' duration with any passing 

 merchant or traveller, would have this effect. At this time they have 

 furnished canoes and rowers for the priest, and a Senor Santa Maria, 

 bound up the river ; and for the governor and us, bound down ; which 

 has taken thirty-eight men out of a population of ninety. (The whole 

 population of the town and neighborhood, reckoning women and 

 children, is three hundred.) 



The town appears to have been once in a better condition than it is 

 now. There are remains of a garden attached to the convent, and also 

 of instruments of husbandry and manufacture — such as rude mortars, 

 hollowed out from the trunk of a tree, for beating (with pestles) the 

 husk from rice, and a press for putting into shape the crude wax gath- 

 ered from the hollow trees by the Indians, used by the friars " lang 

 syne" — all now seem going to decay. The people are lazy and indif- 

 ferent. They cultivate plantains sufficient to give them to eat, and 

 I yuccas enough to make masato to get drunk on ; and this seems all 

 they need. Most of their time is spent in sleeping, drinking, and 

 dancing. Yesterday they were dancing all day, having a feast pre- 

 paratory to going to work to clear ground, and make a chacra for 

 our "Lady of something," which the priest, in his recent visit, had com- 

 manded ; (the produce of this chacra is doubtless for the benefit of the 

 church or its ministers ;) and I have no doubt that the Indians will have 

 another feast when the job is done. 



The dance was a simple affair so far as figure was concerned — the 

 women whirling round in the centre, and the men (who were also the 

 musicians) trotting around them in a circle. The music was made by 



