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to return home, if these two carriers had died, 

 while he was on the banks of the Magdalena, at 

 Mompox or Honda. The number of young 

 men, who undertake the employment of beasts 

 of burden at Choco, Ibague, and Medellin, is 

 so considerable, that we sometimes met a file of 

 fifty or sixty. A few years ago, when a project 

 was formed to make the passage from Nares to 

 Antioquia passable for mules, the cargueroes pre- 

 sented formal remonstrances against mending 

 the road, and the government was weak enough 

 to yield to their clamours. We may here ob- 

 serve, that a class of men near the mines of 

 Mexico have no other employment, than that of 

 carrying other men on their backs. In these 

 climates the indolence of the whites is so great, 

 that every director of a mine has one or two 

 Indians at his service, who are called his horses 

 (cavallitoes), because they are saddled every 

 morning, and, supported by a small cane, and 

 bending forwards, they carry their master from 

 one part of the mine to another. Among the 

 cavallitoes, or cargueroes, those who have a sure 

 foot and easy step are known and recommended 

 to travellers. It is distressing to hear the quali- 

 ties of man spoken of in terms, by which we are 

 accustomed to denote the gait of mules and 

 horses. The persons who are carried in a chair 

 by a carguero must remain several hours mo- 

 tionless, and leaning backwards ; the least mo- 



