CANTON DEL RIO NEGRO 473 
easy. There is also a larger hole in the centre 
of the sepo for confining the neck of any very 
refractory subject, who is laid on his back and has 
his wrists also confined in the two holes adjacent 
the central one. I am told that a quarter of an 
hour's confinement in this way is sufficient to 
reduce the most stubborn to gentleness and sub- 
mission. 
With the map before you, you will have some 
idea of the extent and markings of this enormous 
chessboard, and what I have said above will give 
you some idea of the players and the pieces, and 
especially of the mode in which the pawns are 
" taken." If I may be allowed to vary my 
metaphor a little, I would say that while on your 
chessboard the pawns exactly equal the other 
pieces in number, and are therefore far inferior in 
collective strength, here, on my chessboard, the 
pawns are at least as twenty to one to all the 
knights, bishops, queens (queans.^), etc., put to- 
gether, even if we include in the latter category 
the few foreign pieces (English, French, and 
Portuguese) scattered over the chessboard ; and 
you may naturally inquire if the game is carried on 
with tolerable quietness, and if the pawns altow 
themselves unresistingly to be pushed about by 
the superior pieces, seeing that were they to unite 
their forces, there can be no doubt of their being 
able to floor — i.e. to shove off board, table, and all, 
the kings, queens, and all their abettors. In some 
of the pueblos the system is said to work well, 
especially in those on the Atabapo. There is the 
prestige of the old Castilian prowess, and the 
fortifications erected by the Spaniards to overawe 
