CANTON DEL RIO NEGRO 471 
munity. How I wish he could have made trial of 
it for the space of a few months only ! 
The Canton del Rio Negro is governed by a 
special code, of which I have not yet seen a copy, 
and can only judge of its edicts by what I have 
seen of its working. The whole community is 
divided into two classes, the racionales, who are 
descended from the whites, and the peones, who 
are of Indian descent. All the manual labour 
is performed by the latter — the peones (pawns !) ; 
while the racionales (whom you may consider the 
players) have only to sit still and direct their 
moves on the chessboard. The prime mover in the 
game is represented by a Comisario General, who 
lives in San Fernando de Atabapo, and with whom 
resides the power of nominating a comisario parti- 
cular for each pueblo. The comisarios of pueblos 
appoint among the peones one as captain and 
another as his lieutenant, whose office it is to seek 
up Indians (i.e. peones) for the service of any 
racional or of the community, when required ; 
and also generally to execute the behests of the 
Comisario. In the case of any crime being com- 
mitted, every adult male is a policeman for the 
nonce, and can be called on to assist in the capture 
of the criminal, and afterwards (if necessary) in 
administering the punishment awarded him. In 
the more weighty cases, such as murder or robbing 
with violence, the law requires that the accused 
be remitted to Angostura (the capital of Spanish 
Guayana, now Venezuela), there to take his trial 
before a regularly constituted court ; but this is 
very rarely done. In the plaza of San Carlos — 
and when I speak of plaza, I must caution you 
