HONESTY OF INDIANS. 



227 



slung to the middle of the pole, and each end is placed on a man's 

 shoulder. 



At 9 a. m., June 1, 1852, thermometer 11°, wet bulb 72°; a short 

 time after breakfast, we suddenly came where there were no trees. The 

 men took their bow and stern lines and mounted the bank, and we fol- 

 lowed ; on gaining the top, there, stretched out to the far east, was a 

 perfect sea of herd grass. As far as the eye could reach the land was 

 as level as a floor ; scarcely a tree to be seen except along the little 

 stream we had been following, with a belief we were amidst a great 

 wilderness of woods ; but the clear light of day shone down upon an 

 open pasture-field. 



•While the Indians towed the canoe by the path, " Padre " turned to 

 inquire whether we wanted to go farther down the country ; if so, the 

 captain and crew still desired to serve us. But, senor, said he, "should 

 you engage us to take you, please pay us and not the authorities, who 

 keep the silver themselves and make us take cotton cloth." Here, for 

 the first time, I discovered the crew were dissatisfied with the way the 

 governor of Yuracares had treated them. Under the circumstances, I 

 considered it a duty to pay them extra, in silver coin, for valuable and 

 faithfully-performed services. 



There are two characteristics in the Indian we particularly notice — 

 his honesty and his truthfulness. We have never lost the least thing 

 from our baggage or persons by dishonest Indians ; whenever they 

 offer information it must be asked for, and what they say may be relied 

 upon as correct. We have never found this to be otherwise among any 

 of them — of the high or low countrymen — these traits are observed 

 among all the tribes. 



The schoolmaster told me he never knew a boat's crew volunteer to 

 take passengers ; that they preferred to go alone, and no doubt they 

 offered to take us because we did not interfere with them. He said it 

 was customary for the prefect of the Beni to "whip the Indians" when 

 they delayed on the voyage up the river. This reminded me that on 

 the way down the disappointed governor told me, if the men did not 

 work fast enough, by threatening to have them whipped at Trinidad 

 they would pull more rapidly. 



We arrived at a wooden bridge thrown over the narrow stream, 

 where a number of canoes and Indians were collected. The bridge is on 

 a road leading from a plantation to the town of Trinidad. It was 

 arched ten or twelve feet above the prairies, to prevent its being washed 

 away. In the rainy season the lands overflow every year two feet deep. 

 The road travelled by horses and on foot may then be navigated in 



