VISIT TO LORETO. 



249 



The Creoles of Trinidad are from all parts of the country. We never 

 beheld such a rough-looking set — seemed to be the very outcasts of the 

 nation. There are few married people among them ; some of the men 

 may have wives and families on the Andes, but they live here without 

 them. 



The Creoles dress in calicoes and silks, straw hats and leather shoes, 

 with silk stockings. They prefer the foreign manufactured goods to the 

 white cotton cloths of 'the Indians, except for the table or hamacs, and 

 towels, which the Indians make *to perfection. 



The Indians seem to take pride in acting as servants. They cook, 

 wash, and bring firewood to the whites for a trifle. 



On the morning of the 17th of June, the prefect made up a party, 

 inviting a Brazilian, an Englishman, and myself to join him in a visit 

 to Loreto, twelve leagues south-southeast from Trinidad. Our horses 

 were small, but in good order, though badly broken. It is the custom 

 to lasso a horse in the pampa, saddle, bridle, and mount him. Should 

 a man be thrown, no harm is done ; he lights on the grass or in the mud. 

 Indians had been sent ahead by the prefect, at daylight, with our bed- 

 ding, and table furniture,. The day was clear and pleasant as we 

 rode along the level road over the prairie. One of the comisarios led 

 the way on a little stunted mule. He rode well, with his big toes touch- 

 ing the large wooden stirrups ; his legsfand neck were bare ; a scarlet 

 skull cap on his head, and white camecita wrapped gracefully round 

 him. He made quite a picture galloping over the plain, which was 

 spotted with clusters of bushes, palm trees, or a pool of clear water. 

 Here and there the view was uninterrupted, and the eye fell upon a 

 clearly defined grassy horizon. A wooden bridge in the road proved so 

 much out of order, that we wet our feet in wading the lazy stream, 

 when we halted to hear a distressing story from the Brazilian, who was 

 the life of the party. It seems the evening before a fellow countryman 

 had sent him a couple of bottles for his saddle bags, to be opened on the 

 road. Don Antonio examined a bottle, which proved to contain varmsh. 

 His countryman was a cabinet-maker in Trinidad, and had evidently 

 made an unfortunate mistake. It was not until long after that I under- 

 stood why the prefect appeared so much displeased at the circumstance. 

 The cabinet-maker had some difficulty, and the prefect had ordered him 

 to leave the department of the Beni, and go home to Brazil. Hon 

 Antonio succeeded in persuading the prefect to let the man take pass- 

 ports for the department of Santa Cruz, as he had been a number of 

 years in Bolivia. Owning property in both places, he was obliged to 

 sell out at Trinidad at a great loss, and had the prefect insisted upon his 



