AFFECTION OF ANIMALS. 



7 



yards. The streets are narrow and the houses small. All the towns 

 of the Puna are built pretty much after the same fashion, and of the 

 same material ; the only difference in their outward appearance being 

 produced by the cultivation of foliage and flowers, where the soil and 

 climate permit. When this is not the case, the town presents a stupid, 

 uninteresting aspect. Children, dogs, and pigs, earthen pots, and beds 

 of straw, surround a smoking fire on the ground floor of a one-roomed 

 house. The smoke escapes through the door-way ; the only opening for 

 light or a change of air. During storms, or at night, the door is closed. 

 One peep inside satisfies the North American he can find no rest there. 

 But here, in the valley, the cooking is done under the trees, and the 

 inmates of the house wander out in the shade. We have often noticed 

 expressions of friendship between children and dogs ; the latter shows 

 his pleasure by wagging its tail, while the smiling child pulls his ears. 

 The pig is the most restless creature at this height. While by himself, 

 he is seen tossing up the bottom of the valley ; when he sees the child 

 and dog together, he gives a corkscrew motion to his tail, jumps and 

 swings his body about with an inviting grunt to play. Before long he 

 is laying on his side, with the child on top of him, while the dog is 

 pawing and snapping at that laughable twist of the tail. The affection 

 the different species of animals have, in these associations, is remarkable. 

 The dog in any other place will sometimes kill and eat the sheep ; here, 

 he protects it by night and by day. The pig forms an attachment to 

 \he jackass, who leaves it, at this season of the year, for the female of 

 its own kind. The ram becomes intimate with a horse or a bull, and it 

 is with difficulty they can be separated. The lamb follows the Indian 

 girl in direct disobedience of its mother's call. Domestic cats are few. 

 They cannot live on high elevations. 



There is no part of Peru which is more densely populated than the 

 valley of Juaja. There, close under the mountains, on the east side 

 stands the town of Ocopa, with its convents and schools. From that 

 place, missionaries have branched off in different directions to the forests 

 in the east, at great risk of life and loss of all its comforts, to teach the 

 savage red man how to change his manners, customs, and belief. Some 

 have succeeded, others have failed, and were murdered or driven back 

 by the battle-axe ; their settlements destroyed by fire, and years of labor 

 lost ; yet some never tire ! 



Ignacio carries our tent pole across the pummel of his saddle. His 

 thirsty mule ran between two others, loaded with baggage. The boy 

 was swept off and dropped over the creature's heels in the middle of the 

 stream. He regained his saddle in a short time. His father laughed 

 at him, and took the pole himself 



