notwithstanding our ragged, thorn-torn garments

ra Blanca is an interesting little spot. One evening a tired mule brought in the postman from the next town, Holy Joseph. He had been eight d

e sight is very picturesque. Sometimes a little boy will step into one of the giant, traylike leaves

contains, perhaps, a hundred inhabitants, chiefly civilized Chiquitanos Indians. There is here a customs house, and a regula

ll, dark, palm-built hut. Next morning, ere the sun arose, their feet were thrust into the stocks, and a man armed with a long hide whip thrashed them until the blood flowed in streamlets down their bar

, delicately-shaped feet are prettier without shoes and stockings, and their plaited hair without Parisian hats and European tinsel. They neither read nor write, and therefore cannot discuss politics. Women's rights they have never heard of. Their bright-eyed, naked little children play in the mud or dust round the house, and the sun turns their already bronze-colored bodies into a darker tint; but the Chiquitana woman has never seen a white baby, and knows nothing of its beauty, so is more than satisfied with her own. The Indian child does not suffer from teething, for all have a small wooden image tied round the neck, and the lit

ater was lashed into foam. He thrust his mighty head out of the water and opened his jaws as though warning us he could crush the frail dug-out with one snap. Being anxious to obtain his hide, and momentarily expecting his death, for he was mortally wounded, I held on to the rope with grim persistency. He dived under the boat and lifted it high, but as his ugly nose came out on the other side the canoe regained its position in the water. He then commenced to tow us, but, refusing to obey the helm, took us to all points of the compa

re sitting around the corpse counting their beads and drinking native spirits, with a dim, hazy belief that that was the right thing to do. They had given up their own heathen customs, and, being civilized, must, of course, be Roman Catholics. They were "reduced," as Holy Mother Church calls it, long ago, and, of course, believe that civilization and

es lift their heads among the tangled growth. Some of these crosses have four rudely carved letters on them, which you deci

lesh. Poor man! Had he been able to retain even a spark of life until Holy Week, he might then have been saved from purgatory. Rome teaches that on two days in the year-Holy Thursday and Corpus Christi-the gates of heaven are

drunk till there is not a dram left in the drink-shops, which frequently bear such names as 'The Saviour of the World,' 'The Grace of God,' 'The Fountain of Our Lady,' etc. The poor deluded Romanists have a holiday on that day over the tragic end of Judas. A life-size representation of the betrayer is suspended high in the air in front of the cafés. At ten

port it free. There is no resident priest to make them, so there it stays. In the meantime the bell is slung up on three poles. It was solemnly beaten with a stick on Christmas Eve to commemorate the time when the "Mother of Heaven" gave birth to her child Jesus. In one of the principal houses of the village the scene was most vividly reproduced. A small arbor was screened off by palm leaves, in which were hung little colored candles. Angels of paper were suspende

in Piedra Blanca was a saint with a dress of vegetable fibre, long hai

gures. A band of music is employed, and from the church to the house a procession is formed. A scene of intoxication follows, which only ends when a good number lie drunk before the image-the greater the number the greater t

e priests to uphold it. Read a tale of the persecution of a nineteenth

d the roar of furious thousands, and like a river let loose they rushed down on our house. Paving-stones were quickly torn up, and before the police arrived windows and doors were smashed, and about a thousand voices were crying for blood. We cried to the Lord, not expecting to live much longer. The Chief of Police and his men were swept away before the mob, and now the door burst in before the huge stones and force used. There were two parties, one for murder and one for robbery. I was beaten and dragged a

usand dollars burnt, and was himself hauled before the magist

remedy, for the Church has proceeded by slow steps, and tried all remedies. First, she only excommunicated. Then she added a fine of money, and afterwards exile. Lastly she was compelled to come to the punishment of death. If you threaten a fine of money, they neither fear God nor regard men, knowing

m him now before me as I write he says: "The priests are circulating all manner of lies, telling the people that we keep images of the Virgin in order to scourge them every night. At Colquechaca we were thre

s being held in this city, which cause scandal and alarm throughout the whole district, and which are contrary to the law of Bolivia. Moreover, it is indispensable that we prevent the sad results which must follow such teachings, so contrary to

nst "liberty of worship," but in 1907 this was at last declar

t 120 men to Ayopaya. On arriving at the town of Mohoza, the commander demanded a loan of two hundred dollars from the priest of the town, and one hundred dollars from the mayor. These demands being refused, the priest and the mayor were imprisoned. Meanwhile, however, the priest had despatched couriers to the Indian village, asking that the natives attack Pando's men. A large crowd of Indians came, and, in spite of all measures taken to

To enter on and retain his office he must perforce submit to Church authority. When in his employ, however, I

attended the meetings came into my room, and, kneeling down, asked the Lord not to let me suffer, but to take me quickly. After long weeks of illness, God, however, raised me up again, and the meetings were resumed, when the reason of the priest's non-interference was made known to me. He had been away on a long vacation, and, on his return, hearing of my services, he ordered the church bells rung furiously. On my making enquiries why the bells clanged so, I was informed that a special service was called in the church. At that service a special te

I was severely hurt by missiles which were thrown at me. An official there severely reprimanded me for thus disturbing the quiet town, and I was ushered in before the judge. That dignified gentleman questioned me as to the object of my meetings. Respectfully answering, I said: "To tell the people how they can be saved from sin." Then, as briefly as poss

eye-witness to the sce

lls the follo

long as they had food for their mouths and clothes for their backs, cared little for anything else. One matter, however, had for some little time been troubling them, viz., the confession of their sins to a priest. After due consideration, it was

m? 'What! only forty dollars in the whole of E--,' was his reply, 'and you dare to offer me that! No! I will not come, and, furthermore, from this day I pronounce a curse on your village, and every living perso

As I saw those poor, simple people leaving the homes which had sheltered them for years, as well as their ancestors before them, and with feverish haste hurrying down the valley-every few minutes looking back, wi

must often give her last money for masses, and a man toil for months on the well-stocked land of the divine father to s

ame, thought it no wrong to have seventeen children to various mothers, and his daughters were leaders in society. "Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil." In Trujilla, right opposite my friend's house, there lived, at the same time, a highly respected priest, who had, with his own hands, lit the fire that burnt alive a young woman who had embraced Christianity through missionary preaching. Bear in mind, reader, I am not writing of the dark ages, bu

spires to establish in Bolivia any other religion than that which the republic professes, namely,

s these I have penned, quarantine lifted, and the expedition staff separated. I departed o

T I

RA

AN INDIAN AND H

follow the

hunt for

here there

ave a

RA

s 98,000 square miles of territory, but a population of only 800,000. Paraguay may almost be called an Indian republic, for the traveller hears nothing but the soft Guarani language spoken all over the country. It is in this republic that the

houses that were out of his lines to be demolished by their owners. "One poor man applied to know what remuneration he was to have, and the dictator's answer was: 'A lodgment gratis in the public pri

e Paraguayan dared not utter his name. During his lifetime he was 'El Supremo,' and after he was dead

eople in consequence are found to be the most superstitious. Being an inland republic, its n

y and recklessness, until for every man in the country there could be numbered nine women (some authorities say eleven); and this notwithstanding the fact that the women in thousands carried arms and fought side by side with the m

es vary with the different flags, yet the Chilian is the most universally followed in South America, as elsewhere: "Por la razon ó la fuerza" (By right or by might). The Paraguayans contended heroically for what they considered their rights, and such bloody battles were fought that at Curupaitá alone 5,000 dead and dying were left on the field! Added to the carnage of battle was disease on every hand

is final account, his soul stained with the blood of seven hundre

reminded me of a city of the dead. City of the dead, truly-men and women and children who have passed on! My horse nibbled the grass growing among the broken tiles of the floor, while I, in imagination, listened to the "passing bell" in the tower above me, and under whose shade I sought repose. A traveller, describing this site, says: "It is a place of which the atmosphere is one great mass of malaria, and the heat suffocating-where the surrounding country is an uninterrupt

aguay. It has been called the Paradise of South America, and although the writer has visited sixteen different countries of the world, he thinks of Paraguay with tender longing. It is perhaps the richest land on earth naturally, and produces so much máte that one year's production would make a c