The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-07-10

nor nave 1t for less than $50 000.'
Il will take it, was the reply. IT
have had enough of you, and as
want the farm 1 will pay you what
you ask" And he did.
THE PONGO.
All the dishwashing, fire-making and
water-carryirg as we'll as the dirty
work Of the household generally in La
Paz, is done by men called Pongos.
The Pongo of most houses is changed
every week, and many families have
fifty-two different Pongos in a year.
This is due to one of the customs
which prevails here between the In
dams and their masters. In addition
to the three days week without pay,
which the Indians must give, they
have to furnish also, without pay, so
many men week to do the dirty work
about the house. On a large farm
five or six more such men are fur
nished than are needed by the family
OF the planter and they are then hired
out to others. AS the Pongo works
only for week at a time, the con-
tract is made to furnish one a year
for from $50 to 500 Bolivian, or from
$2S to sS5 American.
The Pongo, when he comes at the
first of the week, brings with him five
bags of llama manure for the fuel of
the household and also two or three
native broomS. He gets nothing for
these, and receives, in short no pay
whatever. AT night he sleeps on the
cold stones inside the door leading to
the street, and must get up and open
to any one who knocks. The work
done by him will not be done by any
of the other servants, so that If you
should have twenty other servants
you must still have your Pongo. The
Pongo alone will go to the public foun-,
tain for the water, the Pongo carries
the vegetables and meats which the
cook buys home from market, and the
Pongo alone empties the Stops and
cleans the pots and pans.
HOW CHILDREN ARE SOLD.
These Indians often give their chill
dren over to the whites to be brought
up by them as servants. There is
money consideration, and though the
Bolivian law provides for the educa-
ton of child SO bought this is prac-
tically limited by the caprice of the
buyer. The contract usually provides
that the parents may have the child
back II they pay twenty cents a day
for the time he has been in the hands
OF the buyer, but as the Indians never
have any money ahead such sales are
usually absolute, and they are in force
until the child is of age. If the mas
ter don't like the child, however, he
can send it back claiming that it has
some fault. Many of the house SER
wants of La PaZ are gotten in this
way, especially in the case of the girls.
AS rule, a large number Of servants
are needed one usually being allotted
to each child of a well-to-do family
The servants are lazy and inefficient,
1t requiring about four Indians to do
the work of one good American hired
girl. The wages are from $1.20 to $40
a month in this money which is equal
to from forty-two cents to $3.50 Amer
lean money.
LOOK AT AN INDIAN HUT.
I wish I could take you into one Of
these Indian huts anu show you lust
how hundreds of thousands of people
live here in Bolivia. 1t is by no means
easy to get into the Indians house,
for he hates strangers and will not adj
nit anyone if he can help 1t. had
one or two rather serious experiences
while making my Investigations of
this kind on the Titicaca plateau, and
in one case the Indian householder
showed fight and threatened to have
me arrested. The outside of the huts
are to be seen everywhere in the coun-
tens of thousands of them and they
are practically the same everywhere.
They would hardly rank as respecta-
bic pig pens in America. Imagine a.
mud hut from six, eight to twelve feet
square. Let it have walls so low
that you can reach up to the thatch-
ed roof without effort. Let it have no
windows and let the door be an OPEN
Ing two feet from the ground, so small
That you have to stoop to get into it.
The floor of the hut is the ground and
you step over the high door sill to get
IN. Once inside there is little more
than room to turn about, for often the
farming utensils belonging to the own
er are kept there and it may be that in
the hut the donkey, the chickens and
the llamas also quarter.
There is little furniture The people
sit ON the floor and men, women and
| children back themselves up against
the wall at night, keeping as close to-
E, thtr as p ssible for warmth and sleep
ttiEg. In one corner OF the hut there