NOTICES OF PERTT. 



411 



smoking, laughing and chatting; and two pre-eminently ugly 

 Indian women were squatted by a bed of coals, broiling fish. 

 They were shaded by a few canes laid side by side, their ends 

 resting on a ricketty fence of reeds, that separated them from 

 the high road. One of these Indians had a child about two 

 years old slung upon her back ; and the squalid little thing kept 

 striking its mother to gain attention, but in vain ; she continued 

 putting fish on the coals, and coals on the fish, without noticing 

 any thing else. An Indian girl, as ugly as either of the others, 

 who acted as an attendant, wore, instead of the cap6s, a piece 

 of cloth rolled about her person, extending from the armpit 

 below the knee, secured over the breast by strings tied over 

 the shoulders and around the waist. Close to them were seve- 

 ral large earthen jars, for boiling and fermenting chieha, and 

 at the remotest end of the yard were two pig-stys, inhabited 

 by noisy black swine. Besides these, a half dozen pigs were 

 tied by the middle like monkeys, and tethered to pegs driven 

 in the ground. The whole tribe were squeaking anxiously to 

 join the preparing feast, while a dozen ducks stood in a pond 

 hard by, prattling and shaking their tails, and an amicable com- 

 pany of turkeys and hens were retiring to roost. At least five 

 mangy curs were sneaking about with tails hanging down, and 

 watching every opportunity to plunge their noses into the 

 earthen pots that were stewing on the fire. The Indians pur- 

 sued their operations in silence, except some one of the guests 

 cried chicha," and then the young Hebe replied <^ya voy." 



Presently the roasted fish were put into a gourd dish, and 

 an earthen pot of " mote" (corn shelled from the cob and boil- 

 ed) was turned into another, and placed on a table. The gen- 

 tlemen immediately threw away their cigars, drew up the 

 benches and chairs, and fell to eating with their fingers. Those 

 who could not find room at the table, got a fish on a gourd 

 plate with a handful of mote, and eat as they walked up and 

 down, inviting us to join them. Though we had just dined, 

 and the food was so rudely served, we found the fish and mote 

 very good. Fray Tomas and his friend the custom house officer 

 formed a separate mess, seated on a mat, with a great gourd 

 dish of beef and rice stewed with aji, garnished by a mate of 



