204 INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



which, when mass was oVer, all the better classes 

 came from the chm*ch in clean dresses, prepared for 

 business. 



It was a matter of some curiosity to me to know 

 how these men lived ; none of them worked. Their 

 only regular business seemed to be that of gambhng. 

 On taking a seat among them^ I learned the secret 

 from themselves. Each man had several outstand- 

 ing loans of four or five dollars made to Indians, or 

 he had sold agua ardiente or some other trifling 

 commodity, which created an indebtedness. This 

 made the Indian a criado, or servant, and mortgaged 

 his labour to the creditor or master, by the use of 

 which, in milpas or tobacco plantations, the latter 

 lived. By small occasional supplies of cocoa or 

 spirit they keep alive the indebtedness ; and as they 

 keep the accounts themselves, the poor Indians, in 

 their ignorance and simplicity, are ground to the 

 earth to support laz}^ and profligate masters. 



We had not formed any very exalted opinion of 

 these people, and they did not rate themselves very 

 high. Don Juan had told us that the Indians were 

 all drunkards, and half the white people; and the 

 other half had occasionally to take to the hammock ; 

 he said, too, that they were all gamblers, and the al- 

 calde, as he shuffled the cards, confirmed it, and ask- 

 ed me to join them. He inquired if there was no 

 gambling in my country, or what people did with 

 their money if they did not gamble, and he aflowed 

 that to expend it in horses, carriages, dinners, furni- 



