68 
f 
to return home^ if these two carriers had died^ 
while he was on the banks of the Magdalena, at 
Mompox or Honda. The number of young 
men, who undertake the employment of beasts 
of burden at Choco, Ibague, and Medellin, is 
so considerable, that we sometimes met a file of 
4 ■ 
fifj,y or sixty. A few years ago, when a project 
was formed to make the passage from Nares to 
Antioquia passable for mules, the cargueroes pre- 
sented formal remonstrances against mending 
the road, and the government was weak enough 
to yield to their clamours. We may here ob- 
serve, that a class of men near the mines of 
Mexico have no other employment, than that of 
carrying other men on their backs. In these 
climates the indolence of the whites is so great, 
that every director of a mine has one or two 
Indians at his service, v/ho are called his horses 
(cavallitoes), because they are saddled every 
morning, and, supported by a small cane, and 
bending forwards, they carry their master from 
one part of the mine to another. Among the 
cavallitoes, or cargueroes, those who have a sure 
foot and easy step are known and recommended 
to travellers. It is distressing to hear the quali- 
ties of man spoken of in terms, by which we are 
accustomed to denote the gait of mules and 
horses. The persons who are carried in a chair 
by a carguero must remain several hours mo- 
tionless, and leaning backwards ; the- least mo- 
