238 



FOREIGN GOODS. 



dry prairie-grass. As the wind carries the fire swiftly along, and the 

 sheets of blaze shoot up under the heavy cloud of smoke, the Indian 

 sketches the effect produced upon the cattle, who toss their tails into the 

 air, and rush in fear with heads erect at the top of their speed in an op- 

 posite direction to that from which the wind comes. He decorates the 

 inside wall of his house with this scene, which is a common one on 

 these prairie lands. 



The Mojos Indians have musical talent also, what the Quichua Indians 

 want. The Aymaras have a little, but the Mojos are decided by natural 

 characteristics : they play the guitar, violin, and flute ; blow their or- 

 ganic pipes, and beat the drum. They accompany the instruments with 

 a sweet voice, and read music with ease. They all take part in church 

 music, while on the mountains a regular choir is employed. 



The altar of the cathedral is beautifully carved out of ornamental 

 woods, adorned with hundreds of dollars' worth of silver. The candle- 

 sticks are made of tin, and the candles are tallow. The silver and tin 

 came from Potosi. The wood and tallow are close at hand. 



We are ignorant of the means used by the Jesuits to incline the 

 savages to collect together on a swell of the pampa, and plant the corner 

 post of this cathedral. They could not understand the white man's 

 language ; they worshipped what they saw before them on the plain, 

 in the heavens, and among the woods ; and yet they were induced to 

 erect a church, kneel in it, and worship the God who made them as well 

 as the animals. All this was accomplished by a series of signs of the 

 hand. 



Don Antonio brought among his cargo some gold ornaments manu- 

 factured in France and Portugal ; amidst other similar articles, a number 

 of gilded beads. The Indian women of the town of Exaltacion fancied 

 and purchased a quantity of them. They were sold as gold beads, just 

 as a jeweller disposes of such things. The Indian women put one of 

 them into the fire, and after heating it well and then cooling it, placed 

 it by the side of some others. The change of color proved to them 

 that the beads contained alloy. They were at once deposited in the 

 hands of the police and sent back to Don Antonio, who had left for 

 this place. He laid the case before the prefect, and informed him the 

 beads had not been sold as pure gold, but as ornaments. The beads 

 were forwarded to a jeweller in Cochabamba to determine their true 

 value, which was as Don Antonio said. But the Indians would not 

 receive them. They answered that the beads were not pure, and for 

 that reason they did not wish them, nor would they wear such things if 

 they were manufactured in Paris. He had to return their money. 



