270 



proofs of a great purity of morals in the lower 

 class, are often exhibited in New Mexico, in 

 Canada, and in the countries situate to the west 

 of the Alleghanies. 



Among the Mulattoes, whose huts surround 

 the salt-lake, we found a shoemaker of Castilian 

 descent. He received us with the air of gravity 

 and selfsufficiency, which in those climates cha- 

 racterize almost all who are conscious of possess- 

 ing some peculiar talent. He was employed in 

 stretching the string of his bow, and sharpening 

 his arrows to kill birds. His trade of a shoe- 

 maker could not be very lucrative in a country, 

 where the greater part of the inhabitants go bare- 

 foot ; and he only complained, that, on account 

 of the dearness of European gunpowder, a man 

 of his quality was reduced to employ the same 

 weapons as the Indians. He was the sage of the 

 plain, he understood the formation of the salt by 

 the influence of the Sun and the full Moon, the 

 symptoms of earthquakes, the marks by which 

 mines of gold and silver are discovered, and the 

 medicinal plants, which he divided, like all the 

 other colonists from Chili to California, into hot 

 and cold*. Having collected the traditions of 

 the country, he gave us some curious accounts 

 of the pearls of Cubagua, objects of luxury, 

 which he treated with the utmost contempt. 



* Exciting or debilitating, sthenic or asthenic of Brown's 

 system. 



