REGULATIONS OP THE TOWN. 



245 



the cattle. An "alcalde" takes charge of all the canoes in the ports ; at- 

 tends to their repairs ; gives orders when others are to be built or dug 

 out ; appoints proper crews to them, when, through sickness or other- 

 wise, the men are called away. He reports to Cayuba the state of com- 

 merce ; how much cacao goes up the country, and how much salt comes 

 down — in fact he is the " old salt " of the tribe. 



Under this system of regulations the city is kept in order ; no quar- 

 relling or fighting is ever seen in the street. As soon as a person is 

 taken sick, those whose duty it is to attend to that department give aid 

 and assistance to the family ; people are sent to the hospital as nurses, 

 and a doctor of medicine is furnished by government. The daily duties 

 are performed by all with so much regularity that no one seems to be 

 over-worked, and all appear to be accommodated, for every Indian man 

 is obliged by the regulations to do something ; there are no loungers 

 here except the Creoles. One Indian goes a voyage on the river ; an- 

 other is obliged to cultivate a chacra or farm, tend cattle, cut timber, or 

 learn some trade ; while the boys go to a school teacher provided for them 

 by the government. 



The women are free to do as they please, which suits them best. They 

 are volunteer workers to pick cotton, spin, and weave it by hand. The 

 frame for the weaver is a simple wooden one, which stands upright in a 

 comer of the house, where the women work at it when they have the cot- 

 ton spun, by twisting it suspended from the hand to a ball, the thread 

 being wound on a slight stick; both spinning and weaving appear to us 

 very slow work, but time is never considered by the Indian ; he works 

 as though he lived for the present, and thought mK>re of the past than 

 of the future. 



The prefect has a secretary and clerk ; a captain of police superintends 

 the whole department of the Beni, and reports any internal disturbances ; 

 he keeps watch upon all people to see there are no revolutionary schemes, 

 and receives twenty-five cents from every person wishing to leave, for 

 a written passport granting permission so to do. When a traveller 

 wants a boat and crew, he applies to the captain of police, who sees 

 that the proper price is paid to the men, and no more. He is a creole^ 

 like the clerk of the prefect. The only other Creole officer in the town 

 is a justice of the peace. 



For the last ten years the Indians of the Beni have paid annual 

 contribution. Before that time the government supplied them with 

 clothing, fed and lodged them, and received into the public treasury the 

 whole products of their labors. The Indians very properly became dis- 



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