LIFE IN TEFFE. 



247 



gentry of the land, while they profit by the ignorance of 

 the Indian to cheat and abuse him, nevertheless adopt his 

 social habits, sit on the ground and eat with their fingers 

 as he does. Although it is forbidden by law to enslave the 

 Indian, there is a practical slavery by which he becomes 

 as absolutely in the power of the master as if he could 

 be bought and sold. The white man engages an Indian 

 to work for him at a certain rate, at the same time prom- 

 ising to provide him with clothes and food until such time 

 as he shall have earned enough to take care of himself. 

 This outfit, in fact, costs the employer little ; but when 

 the Indian comes to receive his wages he is told that he 

 is already in debt to his master for what has been ad- 

 vanced to him ; instead of having a right to demand 

 money, he owes work. The Indians, even those who live 

 about the towns, are singularly ignorant of the true value 

 of things. They allow themselves to be deceived in this 

 way to an extraordinary extent, and remain bound to the 

 service of a man for a lifetime, believing themselves under 

 the burden of a debt, while they are, in fact, creditors. 

 Besides this virtual slavery, an actual traffic of the Indians 

 does go on : but it is so far removed from the power of the 

 authorities that they cannot, if they would, put a stop to it. 

 A better class of emigrants would suppress many of these 

 evils. Americans or Englishmen might be sordid in their 

 transactions with the natives ; their hands are certainly not 

 clean in their dealings with the dark-skinned races ; but 

 they would not degrade themselves to the social level of 

 the Indians as the Portuguese do ; they would not adopt 

 his habits." 



I cannot say good by to Teff^ without a word in com- 

 memoration of one class of its inhabitants who have 



