The creoles dress in calicoes and silks, straw hats and leather shoes, with silk stockings. They prefer the foreign manufactured goods to the white cotton cloths of the Indians, except for the table or hamacs, and towels, which the Indians make to perfection.
The Indians seem to take pride in acting as servants. They cook, wash, and bring firewood to the whites for a trifle.
On the morning of the 17th of June, the prefect made up a party, inviting a Brazilian, an Englishman, and myself to join him in a visit to Loreto, twelve leagues south-southeast from Trinidad. Our horses were small, but in good order, though badly broken. It is the custom to lasso a horse in the pampa, saddle, bridle, and mount him. Should a man be thrown, no harm is done; he lights on the grass or in the mud. Indians had been sent ahead by the prefect, at daylight, with our bedding, and table furniture. The day was clear and pleasant as we rode along the level road over the prairie. One of the comisarios led the way on a little stunted mule. He rode well, with his big toes touching the large wooden stirrups; his legs and neck were bare; a scarlet skull cap on his head, and white camecita wrapped gracefully round him. He made quite a picture galloping over the plain, which was spotted with clusters of bushes, palm trees, or a pool of clear water. Here and there the view was uninterrupted, and the eye fell upon a clearly defined grassy horizon. A wooden bridge in the road proved so much out of order, that we wet our feet in wading the lazy stream, when we halted to hear a distressing story from the Brazilian, who was the life of the party. It seems the evening before a fellow countryman had sent him a couple of bottles for his saddle bags, to be opened on the road. Don Antonio examined a bottle, which proved to contain varnish. His countryman was a cabinet-maker in Trinidad, and had evidently made an unfortunate mistake. It was not until long after that I understood why the prefect appeared so much displeased at the circumstance. The cabinet-maker had some difficulty, and the prefect had ordered him to leave the department of the Beni, and go home to Brazil. Don Antonio succeeded in persuading the prefect to let the man take passports for the department of Santa Cruz, as he had been a number of years in Bolivia. Owning property in both places, he was obliged to sell out at Trinidad at a great loss, and had the prefect insisted upon his going directly to Brazil, he probably would have lost what he owned in Santa Cruz. The prefect believed the cabinet-maker had sent the bottles of material used for mechanical purposes, instead of those for medicinal, on purpose to varnish him. The honest mechanic, it is supposed, took this opportunity of showing his ill will towards the authorities, who have orders from the supreme government not to be too smooth with foreigners, but to send them to Brazil immediately upon the least suspicion of misbehavior. Liberty, property, and even life hinge on the will of the prefect of this department. The power of the prefects of all the other divisions of the territories in Peru and Bolivia are great enough, but none are so far from the eye of the government as this, which is geographically independent of the mountainous regions. The authorities have unlimited powers, over foreigners particularly.
Four leagues travel brought us to a hacienda; we dismounted, after having toiled through herd grass, mud, and water up to the horses' knees. The water is gradually drawing off the lands, it has settled among the grass, and now is perfectly transparent. For miles we waded through it a foot deep; then the land swells up and becomes dry. Where we find water, there fowls are in great abundance—flocks of ducks and long-legged cranes. As we rise on the dry soil, deer start from our path, and the ostrich walks slowly off, holding his head down below the tops of the grass, as though we did not see his tail of beautiful and valuable feathers.
The two houses at the hacienda were surrounded with plantain and papaya trees. There were several enclosures for cattle, one of which contained a great number of calves; they, with the Indian women and dogs, had used up all the morning's milk. The Englishman, therefore, drew the cork of a bottle of wine, the prefect produced bread, but cheese had been left behind. A large pot of beef was boiling on the fire; it was so tough and insipid, for the want of salt, we could not eat it; while the "peste" remains, we doubt whether it is healthy food.
After leaving the hacienda, with its two-storied houses, we waded one league through water two feet deep, spread all through the grass on the plain as far as we could see in every direction. Birds of most beautiful plumage flew up about us, and the party became pretty well ducked. We would have done much better in canoes than in saddles. Reaching dry land we pushed on foot, in single file, to the river Yvaré. An Indian from the opposite side obeyed the call of our guide. The horses were unsaddled; we all embarked with the riding gear in a canoe and paddled over, as the horses swam to the opposite bank. While the Indians saddled up, we bathed in the stream with the greatest number of snorting alligators above and below us. The stream is narrow, without current, making it difficult to tell which was up or down. The banks were twenty feet high, and yet they are overflowed in the wet season. The water was dark colored, though clear.
At the house of the ferryman we met his old Indian wife, who cultivated a few cotton-bushes about her hut, with some tobacco plants. The cotton is produced from a bush eight to ten feet high. It is difficult to find a person who has noticed how long these bushes will produce without replanting. The impression is seven years. The same tobacco plant yields from two to three years. The hut was shaded by a number of orange trees, from which the woman gathered us most delicious fruit. There is nothing like them on the coast of Brazil nor at the Cape de Verde islands. The skins are thin, almost bursting with the juice. The trees were as large as a moderate-sized apple tree, and loaded with oranges, while the sweet blossoms bloomed for another crop. Plantains form the bread of this country; near every house the trees are found. This hut stands on the northern boundary of what are called the Plains of Loreto. Here the land is somewhat higher; the path is smooth, and as the afternoon is passing, we hurry on. To our right a drove of cattle look up; fierce-looking bulls stand between us and their mates; they are not very amiable fellows, and often attack the lonely traveller; but their numbers have been reduced by the thieving creoles from Santa Cruz, who come here and take them off by droves. There was a time when sixty thousand head of cattle were counted on these plains. As the doe leaped through the grass, following its young, the peccary—a sort of wild hog—jumped up under the horses' noses, and with his civilized grunt and short tail, rushed along the same path. Tigers are found in great numbers; their skins are sold in the market of Trinidad. As we rode by a cluster of trees on our right, we heard a bellowing bull, and saw the wild cattle rushing to his aid. I was told the tiger leaps from his hiding-place in the grass, catches the bull by the ear, fastens his fore-claws securely in the neck and his hind-claws to the fore-shoulder; his head is then just behind the horns of the bull, and his tail hangs down by the side of the fore-leg. In this position the tiger commences to cut into the great vessels of the neck, while the bull runs through the pampa, his head high up in the air, bellowing with pain. Unless the herd who follow to help, gather round and attack the tiger, he soon brings the prey upon his knees. The suffering animal bleeds to death surrounded by his kind, while the panting tiger prowls about at a short distance, knowing that when the bull dies the cattle will disperse, and he can then enjoy the feast. These tigers sometimes attack a man when he is alone, but seldom when in company. Few persons escape when engaged in the death-struggle with him. The Indians usually go together, or take dogs along, who attract his attention, and prevent his seeking an engagement with the man. The tigers make dreadful work among the calves when they are allowed to go abroad in the grass. They are generally kept up in the day and watched by the Indians and dogs. At night they are put with their mothers in an enclosure, where a tiger dare not go. His only chance of killing cattle is between the time he catches and when the herd come up to the sufferer, who rushes off at full speed the moment the tiger touches him. The work of death is speedily done.
As the sun was going down, we came upon a plain stretching far off to the west. Deer were grazing in pairs. We all put spurs to our horses and gave chase, but they showed their white tails and bounded out of reach of a rifle. The horses soon became worried down running through the grass. The tapir, or Brazil elk, is found on these plains, keeping close to the river. It is called "gran bestia" by the Spaniards. Its color is iron gray, with a short coat of coarse hair. The meat makes very tender beef. The hoof is divided into three parts like toes. On the inside of the fore-foot there is a fourth toe; and the hind legs double up at the joint like those of the llama and elephant. The strength of this animal is very great. The Indians sometimes lasso him, but take care not to have the end of the lasso fastened to the saddle, as is usual, for the tapir will manage three or four horsemen with ease. The tapir lives on grass, and although he is harmless, the Indians are excited upon meeting one, as though they feared the animal's strength. He can only be taken by a ball or arrow. Although his skin is thick, he is not very difficult to kill. In Brazil there are great numbers of these animals. The Indians say the tapirs and the mules are cousins, because their heads somewhat resemble each other when looked at full in the face. The tapir holds his head about as high as a mule; his hinder parts are more like the elephant.
Night overtook us amidst the beasts of the prairie. As the road was reported dry by the guide, we galloped in a line for a long time through the silent plains, and finally reached the small town of Loreto. On the outskirts we passed enclosures filled with cattle. It was after eight o'clock, and the inhabitants had gone to bed. A death-like silence reigned as we dismounted at the door of the government house, where Indians had already arrived with our beds and provisions.
The correjidor was a fine-looking Indian, dressed in jacket and trowsers, becoming to him. Being of domestic materials, he was more at his ease than those who get into tight-fitting old cloth clothes. Bedsteads, chairs, and tables were put into different rooms, with jars of fresh water. Indians came rubbing their eyes, and, looking at us, smilingly offering to assist the correjidor. A fire was kindled, water heated, and a first-rate chicken soup made, while the cotton hamacs were slung across the room. A white table-cloth was spread; after soup, coffee was produced, and the party rested in the hamacs, with home-made cigars.