SPANISH LANGUAGE. 



163 



country in the most exaggerated manner ; he has so many of the good 

 things of the world at his door, that he naturally boasts ; he thinks little 

 of other parts of the world ; he has no idea of leaving his own fruits 

 and flowers. The roads are bad ; he cares little for their use. When 

 he leaves his native city, it is more for pleasure than for commerce. 

 He is not obliged to build railroads that he may receive at low rates of 

 freight the tea of China ; the sugar of the West Indies ; the flour, iron, or 

 cotton goods of North America. His own climate is so agreeable that he 

 seldom wishes to travel; there is no place like his home ! When the trav- 

 eller inquires how he would like to see a steamboat come to the mouth 

 of the Piray river, the water of which he drinks, his eyes brighten, and 

 he smilingly says " he would be delighted ;" at once telling what he 

 would put on board of her as a cargo for the people who sent her. He 

 is contented with the roads constructed by the hand of the Creator of 

 all things ; but the Creole is honest in his desire to see what he has never 

 yet seen — a steam-engine move a vessel. He is ready to sell his pro- 

 duce to those who come to him ; yet when you inquire what he desires 

 from other parts of the world, it is very certain, from the length of time 

 it takes him to answer, that he seldom thinks he is in want of anything; 

 and if asked how much he is willing to subscribe towards purchasing a 

 steamboat, his usual answer is, that " he has no money, and is very 

 poor !" 



The Spanish language is more generally spoken in Santa Cruz than 

 in other parts of this country. The Indians are taught and practise 

 that language to the exclusion of their ow T n. The people of Santa Cruz 

 pride themselves upon their pure Spanish, and ridicule the speech of 

 those of other towns. The teachers of most of the schools in Cocha- 

 bamba are natives of Santa Cruz, as well as the most intelligent of the 

 clergy, who are generally foremost to speak of the advantages of estab- 

 lishing trade with the Atlantic ocean by the natural river road, instead 

 of looking constantly towards the Pacific. Santa Cruz may be called 

 the frontier town of the Spanish race, who have swept over the country 

 from the Pacific. The bay of Arica bears due west from Santa Cruz. 

 As the coast of South America bends at Arica, so the Spanish have 

 pressed far in towards the centre of the continent, placing those oil the 

 eastern border of Bolivia nearer to the Atlantic than the people of Peru ; 

 although they seem to be farthest from the .markets of the world, they 

 are the nearest, and are best prepared for entering into commercial rela- 

 tions with the United States of the North. # 



The industrial, agricultural, and manufacturing people of this country 

 are principally among the aborigines. They plant the sugar-cane, 



