t 



A REFRACTORY INDIAN. 241 



for an Indian to carry our load, but the latter re- 

 fused to obey, and was insolent to the cacique, who, 

 in a rage, ordered him to be put into the stocks. 

 When I entered, the recusant, sullen and silent, 

 was waiting the execution of his sentence, and in a 

 few minutes he was lying on his back on the 

 ground, with both legs secured in the stocks above 

 his knees. The cacique sent for another, and in 

 the mean time an old woman came in with a roll of 

 tortillas, and a piteous expression of face. She was 

 the mother of the prisoner, and took her seat on the 

 stocks to remain with him and comfort him ; and, 

 as the man rolled his head on the ground, and the 

 woman looked wonderingly at us, we reproached 

 ourselves as the cause of his disaster, and endeav- 

 oured to procure his release, but the cacique would 

 not listen to us. He said that the man was pun- 

 ished, not for refusing to go with us, although bound 

 to do so on account of indebtedness to the village, 

 but for insolence to himself He was evidently one 

 who would not allow his authority to be trifled 

 with ; and seeing that, without helping the Indian, 

 we might lose the benefit of the cacique's good dis- 

 positions in our favour, we were fain to desist. At 

 length, though evidently with some difficulty, he 

 procured another Indian. As we mounted, we 

 made a final effort in behalf of the poor fellow in the 

 stocks ; and, though apparently unable to compre- 

 hend why we should take any interest in the mat- 

 ter, the cacique promised to release him. 

 Vol. H.— H h 21 



