I 
THE 1IAPTT)S OF THE ilADEIRA ANT) THE MAMOTifi. 
81 
neglected to iniike even tlio most necessary repairs. Still, siicli is the 
imj^rcssion of vitality made hy these edifices, that we expected every 
moment to sec one of the padres appear from out the dark background 
ot the grey, weatlier-beatcn colonnade. 
The aUsence of trees, and the number of tall crucifixes (the largest 
of which is erected in the middle of the Plaza), give it the ajipcarance 
of the dreary interior of a cpiict monastery, — an impression ivhich is 
only heightened by the grave Indians gliding noiselessly along the 
extensive corridors in' their long white camisetas. 
The sacristan, an Indian, readily opened to us a side-door of the 
church, and wo passed out of the dazzling light of the declining sun 
into the mystic twilight of the aisle, after having been amused with 
the grotesque ornamentation and the gaudy colours of the pilastres and 
statuettes of the outer hall. 
A detailed description of the church, and of the life and doings 
of the Indians in the Missions, will follow hereafter. 
Our task now was — and it was neither an easy nor an agreeable 
one — to get a sufficient number of j)addlcrs for our return, as those 
who had come with us from the Amazon had been absent from their 
families for eight months, and rvei’c unwilling to undergo the troubles 
and dangers of the same voyage again after only a few days’ repose. 
The welfare of the traveller in this regard depends entirely on the 
good or the ill-will of the Dhcctor of the Pueblo, who has the title 
of Con-egidor, and of the chieftain of the Indians, who exercises the 
greatest influence on them to the iircsent day. But as we had been 
cornmis.sioned by the Brazilian Government, and as the President of 
the Eepublic had been notified of our arrival by the Brazilian Ambas- 
.sador, our relation to both the Corregidor and the Prefect of the Bepart- 
meiit differed materially from that of an ordinary Bohh'iau merchant 
of Trinidad or Santa Cruz, who might be hunting for i)uddles in the 
Missions, and we therefore had a right to count on their support. 
Oil the morning following our arrival at Exaltacion, we went in 
person to the house of the Corregidor, a still jmuthful-looking man 
of the true Spanish type, who lived on the ground floor of the 
Collegium, which is kept in rather better repau’ than the first story. 
He received us in a vide hall paved with bricks, between which 
sections of large bones, probably of bullocks, formed siniiile patterns 
of a rough mosaic. After we had all been seated on heavy, rudely 
u 
