108 MONPOX. 



Monpox is the grand rendezvous of the 

 bogas, whose numbers on the banks of this 

 river amount to nearly ten thousand. The 

 laws relating to this class of people are very 

 bad, and worse administered. Hence they 

 frequently dictate terms to travellers, whose 

 money they are authorized to take in the 

 first instance, and often desert them when at 

 the distance of a day or two's journey from 

 the city. It is however under the consi- 

 deration of the legislature to institute a 

 code of laws for their government, in which 

 it is to be hoped they will set the example 

 of equity by relieving them from the com- 

 pulsory public duty carried on upon the 

 principle established by the Spaniards, un- 

 der which system these men, on any public 

 emergency, are seized and carried to prison 

 under a guard until they are required; or 

 else are arrested, torn from the bosom of 

 their families, and sent on some unexpect- 

 ed service; nor are the hardships of the 



