MISSIONS OF MAINAS. 



185 



time to time, an old blunderbuss, loaded to the muzzle, in honor of a 

 miracle that had happened in Rimini, in Italy, some year and a half 

 ago, of which we had just received intelligence. 



The governor general gave me some statistics, from which it appears 

 that the province of Mainas is divided into the province proper, (of 

 which the capital is Moyabamba,) the upper and lower Missions, and the 

 Conversions of the Ucayali. 



The upper Mission has four districts — Balza Puerto, Xeberos, Laguna, 

 and Andoas; containing seventeen villages, and nine thousand nine 

 hundred and eleven inhabitants. The lower Mission has two districts — 

 Nauta and Loreto, with seventeen villages, and three thousand seven 

 hundred and eighty-nine inhabitants. The Conversions of the Ucayali 

 are confined to the villages of Sarayacu, TierraBlanca, and Sta. Catalina, 

 and number one thousand three hundred and -fifty inhabitants, mostly 

 converts of the Panos tribe. They are governed by priests of the Col- 

 lege of Ocopa, who are under the spiritual direction of its guardian; 

 but hold their temporal authority under the prefect of the department. 

 Arebalo estimates the number of whites in the Missions and Conver- 

 sions — counting men, women, and children — at four hundred and seven. 



Both Missions are under the authority of a governor general, who 

 holds his commission from the sub-prefect of the province. Each dis- 

 trict has its governor, and each town its lieutenant governor. The 

 other authorities of a town are curacas, captains, lieutenants, adjutants, 

 ensigns, sergeants, alcaldes, and constables. (All these are Indians.) The 

 office of curaca is hereditary. The right of succession is sometimes 

 interfered with by the white governor ; but this always gives dissatis- 

 faction, and is occasionally (added to other grievances) the cause of 

 rebellion and riot. The savages treat their curaca with great respect, 

 and submit to corporal punishment at his mandate. 



I know of no legal establishment in the Missions ; the law proceeding 

 out of the mouths of the governors. Indians are punished by flogging 

 or confinement in the stocks; whites are sometimes imprisoned; but if 

 their offence is of a grave nature, they are sent to be tried and judged 

 by the courts of the capital. 



Arebalo estimates the value of the commerce of the Missions with 

 Brazil at twenty thousand dollars annually; and that with the Pacific 

 coast, through Chachapoyas and Truxillo, at twenty thousand more. 

 The vegetable productions of the Missions do not equal the value of the 

 imports; but the people get some money from the coast for their manu- 

 factures of coarse cotton and straw-hats ; and a little gold is occasion- 

 ally obtained from the sands of the Napo and Pastaza. 



