134 



PRESIDENT OF BOLIVIA. 



many years in Bolivia, was married to a Cochabam^pia, and surrounded 

 by a beautiful young flock, who heartily laughed at our dislike to fleas. 



The stream between the mountains and the town is a tributary of the 

 Mamore. It flows around the town, and after creeping along the ridge 

 some distance to the southward and eastward, it passes round the 

 mountains, and enters northward into the Madeira. 



The President of Bolivia, with his cabinet, were here on a visit, and 

 would leave shortly, under a large escort of regular troops. As there 

 was not much time to lose, I immediately employed myself in the prep- 

 aration of a commercial proposition to the government. A Brazilian- 

 minister had concluded a treaty of limits and navigation between his 

 country and Peru. He was now awaiting the action of this government 

 in Sucre, the capital, for the purpose of securing the use of the naviga- 

 ble rivers of Bolivia for the Brazils alone. I decided to ask the right 

 and privilege to navigate the rivers flowing through the territory of 

 Bolivia by steamboats or other vessels. 



On Sunday morning, agreeably to appointment, two influential mer- 

 chants of the city accompanied me to the palace. 



The soldiers drilling in the plaza were young, spirited-looking, well- 

 disciplined men, though small in stature. They were stout built, and 

 nearly all half-breeds, except the officers, who were white. There was 

 but one negro among them ; he was the drummajor, and the largest 

 man in the regiment. The officers lounged about the doors of the 

 palace in full uniform, buttoned up to the throat, and looked as uncom- 

 fortable as the soldiers in their thick Sunday mustering clothes. 



Entering a large patio, and ascending a stone stairway, we came to a 

 balcony, where two officers in costly uniform rose and saluted. Enter- 

 ing a large hall, well carpeted and furnished at one end with curtains 

 of the national color — red, yellow, and green — which hung over the 

 sides of a large arm chair, in front of which was a small table, a tall, 

 graceful officer of middle age rose from his seat in full uniform, a velvet 

 cap embroidered with gold pulled down over his eyebrows. This gen- 

 tleman was his Excellency Captain General Manuel Isidoro Belzu, 

 President of the republic of Bolivia. After shaking hands and being 

 offered a seat on the sofa, I said to him : " That the President of the 

 United States, desiring a more active exchange of the productions^ be- 

 tween the two Americas, I had the hope that a more direct route 

 between the United States and Bolivia might be found than by the way 

 of Cape Horn." To which the President replied : " He had heard of 

 my arrival in La Paz, and was pleased to see me. My country," said 

 he, "is in its infancy. I would be the more pleased to join hands with 



