THE MOJOS INDIANS. 
199 
river, or tlie thick water of the corridges, or pools, which are full of 
organic matter of all kinds. 
Of course nothing seems easier or simpler than the idea of doing 
the bruising of the grains in a mortar, or with a couple of cylinders ; 
but an indescribable smile curls the lip of the true Bolivian when 
you are ingenuous enough to propose such a thing. ith a pitying 
shrug of the shoulders, he will inform you that that Avas tried 
long ago, and that chicha prepared thus “ artifieialmente ” Avas destitute 
of all savourincss,— in tact, was not chicha. And, indeed, who knoAVS 
Avhether he be not right, and Avhether fermentation brought about 
by ditfercnt means does not produce different effects ? “ Into the 
innermost secrets of Nature no created spirit as yet has penetrated | ” 
and even the celebrated automatic duck of the late Ilofrath Beireis 
may have awakened dubious thoughts in some of his fellow-professors, 
gifted Avith more delicate smelling-organs than the re.st, as to the 
final result of its artificial apparatus of digestion. 
The tenacity Avith AA^hich the Bolivians cleave to then old ways 
in such matters is evidenced by the folloAving narrative of fact. Some 
years back a Frenchman erected at Santa Cruz de la Sierra a very 
simple chocolate mill. NotAvithstanding the large consumption of the 
ai’ticle, the cacdo beans used to be bruised by the poor Indian women, 
in Avooden troughs, AAuth the aid of common field-stones: — a mode 
which, besides being imperfect and laborious, inAmlvcd the loss ot 
time. Anywhere else the enterprise could not have failed to be a 
splendid success ; but not so in Bolivia. The man Avas totally ruined. 
Nobody Avould buy his chocolate, for it Avas said to cause — rhum 
tmeatis ! — Aiolcnt colics, through the novelty of its “artificial” pre- 
paration ; and the Indian women have therefore to go on with their 
Sisyphean work. 
After these culinary diversions, let us retimi to the Missions, ot 
Avhich there are fifteen in the Deijartamento del Beni, inhabited by 
seven different tribes. Tlnee of these, the Canichanas, Cayuabas, and 
Mobimas, live in one Pueblo each ; while the four others, the Maropas, 
Baures, Itonamas, and Mojos, have three or four villages each. 
Giving an average number of 2,000 souls to each Mission, we have 
a total of 30,000 Indian inhabitants of the Department. 
In spite of the external similarity of the several tribes in respect 
