2 
LIFE AT THE MISSION. 
C II APT Ell VIII. 
Departure from Caripe. — Mountain and Forest of Santa Maria.- Mission 
of Catuaro. — Port of Cariaco. 
The days ire passed at the Capuchin convent in the 
mountains of Caripe, glided swiftly away, though our manner 
of living was simple and uniform. From sunrise to nightfall 
we traversed the forests and neighbouring mountains, to 
collect plants. When the winter rains prevented us from 
undertaking distant excursions, we visited the huts of the 
Indians, the connco of the community, or those assemblies in 
which the alcaldes every evening arrange the labours of the 
succeeding day. We returned to the monastery only when 
the sound of the hell called us to the refectory to share the 
repasts of the missionaries. Sometimes, very early in the 
morning, we followed them to the church, to attend the 
doctrina, that is to say, the religious instruction of the 
Indians. It w as rather a difficult task to explain dogmas to 
the neophytes, especially those who had but a very imperfect 
knowledge of the Spanish language. On the other hand, the 
monks are as yet almost totally ignorant of the language of 
the Chaymas ; and the resemblance of sounds confuses the 
poor Indians and suggests to them the most whimsical ideas. 
Of this I may cite an example. 1 saw a missionary labouring 
earnestly to prove that inferno, hell, and invierno, winter, 
were not one and the same thing; but as different as heat 
and cold. The Chaymas are acquainted, with no other winter 
than the season of rains ; and consequently they imagined 
the ‘Hell of the whites’ to bo a place where the wicked 
are exposed to frequent showers. The missionary harangued 
to no purpose: it was impossible to efface the first impress 
sion produced by the analogy between the two consonants. 
He could not separate in the minds of the neophytes the 
ideas of rain ana hell; invierno and inferno. 
After passing almost the whole day in the open air, we 
employee! our evenings, at the convent, in making notes 
