180 
THE AMAZON AND MADEIRA Rn^ERS. 
them neither the silver vessels,* nor the Avives iior the daughters of theii’ 
parishioners are sacred ;f and, Avith the innate frivolity and sensAiality 
of the natives, snch examples of depravity must exercise the saddest 
influence on their habits. 
These introdnctoiy remarks Avill sen-e to continue my reference in 
Chapter II. to the present state of the late Missions, noAV called 
Pueblos, that is, villages. They are under the superintendence of 
CoiTcjidors, officials appointed by the' GoAmrnment and sent over from 
La Paz, Cochabamba, or Santa Crm. But, as the Departamento del 
Peni, in Avhich these Pueblos are, is regarded as a sort of exile, and 
as there usually are feAV aspirants to the office, the Government, having 
small choice, frequently entrusts the post to totally unfit hands. 
As in most of the South American republics, the endless political 
disorders, Avhich are caused by personal interests, and not by the conflict 
of political feeling, must also have contributed to make the remote 
Departamento a sort of forlorn outpost, undeserving of any, even the 
lenst, sacrifice. Had even competent Government officials taken greater 
interest in it, and been inspired Avith the desire to do something toAvards 
its progress, the short interval between the pulling down of one 
President and the foil of his successor, the excitement produced by 
these alAA-ays more or less bloody dramas, and the 'subsequent changes 
m the offices, haAm not admitted of the execution of any Avide improve- 
ments. If, for example, the importance of a regular line of eom- 
muuicatiou betAveen the Mamore and the Amazon had not been 
impressed from without, Eolivia never Avould have done anything for 
it ; and for ages to come the few imported European goods would 
* In a conversation I liad at Trinidad with the Superintendent of Police, respect- 
ing tho treasures still existing in the Pueblos, he dwelt upon tho enormity of the 
vigarios, over whom he had no authority whatever, who secreted one after another of 
the vessels, had thenr melted down, and then sold the silver. Besides, added he, 
with a characteristic movement of the hand, as though he were crushing some basin’ 
they sometimes so disfigure the delicately-ornamented and carved vessels that they 
impudently use them at their own tables. 
t Sexuum inter se consuetude ciun apud nullam Indianorum gentium Aiistro- 
Americanariun magna cum sovoritate oxereeatur, turn apud Mojos Bolivite verecundia 
imprimis laxata est. Maritus si post sex vel octo mensium absentiam domum rediit. 
dummodo ei uxor noA'am “Camisetam” novumque lectum susponsum texuerit, miti 
animo audit mulierem cum hoc vel illo rem habuisse se narrantem, ac turn demum 
indiguabitur, si forte corinis mis(merit cum aliquo ox Albis. 
Quo 3 cum ita sint, syjihiliticos morbos atrocom in modum ingravescere, facile 
intelligitur; atquo ii vel prtocipue in causa sunt iuteimorientium paxdatim aut 
marcescentiimi eorum, qui -tlboriun consuetudine utuutur, Indianorum. 
I 
