doubly uncertain^ since he knows not whethor 
he places his foot on the ridge^ or in the furrow. 
As few persons in easy circumstances travel on 
foot, in these climates, through roads so difficult, 
during fifteen or twenty days together, they are 
carried by men in a chair, tied on their back ; for 
in the present state of the passage of Quindiu, it 
would be impossible to go on mules. They talk 
in this country of going on a man’s back (andar 
en carguero), as we mention going on horse- 
back, no humiliating idea is annexed to the 
trade of cargueroes ; and the men who follow 
this occupation are not Indians, but raulattoes, 
and sometimes even whites. It is often curious 
to hear these men, with scarcely any covering, 
and following a profession which we should con- 
sider so disgraceful, quarrelling in the midst of a 
forest, because one has refused the other, who 
pretends to have a whiter skin, the pompous title 
of don, or of su merced. The usual load of 
a carguero is six or seven arrobas (from seventy- 
five to eighty-eight kilogrammes : those who 
are very strong, carry as much us nine arrobas. 
When we reflect on the enormous fatigue, to 
which these miserable men are exposed, jour- 
neying eight or nine hours a day over a moun- 
tainous country ; when we know, that their 
^ For the correspondent English ??.nd French weiglits, see 
he table at the end of the volume. 
