-15-

of the ruins under the care of Richarti, a Quichua Indian who lived in a
hut at San Miguel Bridge. Three years previously Dr. Bingham had discov-
ered a cub which had been recently abandoned by its mother in the forest
bordering the ruins. When we arrived in the neighborhood the maize crop
had already been harvested and the bears had closed their visits to the
fields. Richarti was a small but physically well proportioned Quichua of
pleasing demeanor and possessed of energy far beyond the average of his
class. He was one of the men whom Dr. Bingham had employed in clearing the
forest away from the ruins of Machu Picchu three years previously. After
the clearing Richarti had the next year used the ancient terraces for f
fields, planting maize, potatoes, yams, beans, squashes, and other vege-
tables. But it required herculean efforts to harvest the crop for every
pound must be carried down the precipitous break-neck remnant of a trail
2000 feet below to his hut at San Miguel Bridge. Daily he had the labor
of climbing the same dangerous trail to the ancient city. A full hour is
required by an expert climber to reach the summit but to Richarti such a
 feat was mere play. The climbing ability of the Quichua Indian is remark-
able and Richarti was no exception to his race in this respect. It is said

-16-

that a highland Quichua even when burdened by a considerable pack can out-
walk the average cargo mule in an endurance test over the usual mountain
highways of the country.

Although we failed to get any bears near the ruins we were as-
sured by Richarti that a large cat, a chin-chay, as he called it in Quichua
had been robbing him of chickens at night at intervals during the past m
month. This animal I assumed to be an ocelot, according to its Quichua
designation, but I was doomed to disappointment a few days later. Steel
traps were set nearby, and baited with bird meat. On the second night we
caught the thief which proved to be no other than the vile-smelling
proboscis skunk of South America, known to the Quichuas as the amjas.
He had dragged himself trip and all into a crevice between two boulders
at the mouth of which the trap pole lay. I was accompanied by Tomas, a
Peruvian soldier who acted as my gun-bearer, and who was an ornament of no
small value about camp. But this was not a fortunate day for Tomas as
events will show. Tomas pulled away at the pole trying to dislodge the
skunk while I stood ready with the rifle to defend our position but his
efforts brought only a few square inches of the skunk's back into sight

-17-

at the entrance of the crevice. I finally fired at this part intending
to break the animal's back. After two shots had been fired into the skunk
he seemed to relax his hold and we assumed that he had been killed, so I
instructed Tomas to drag him forth. When the skunk had been dragged into the
draylight we discovered our awful mistake, but too late! The little
beast whirled about and turned loose the content of both his perfume res-
ervoirs on the martial form of my Peruvian soldier before I could inter-
fere with my rifle. The skunk was finally subdued. Thomas, now indistin-
guishable by scent from the animal, carried him back to camp, past the pack
trains with their grinning, joking arrieros, as the vile odor of both
soldier and prize reached their nostrils. Tomas marched along crestfallen
but defiant, with a fierce expression on his countenance which cowed the
hilarity of such arrieros who were in danger of personal contact with our
hero.

On the morning after our arrival at San Miguel Bridge the pack
mules were driven into camp from their feeding grounds on the steep moun-
tain side above the huts at Intihuatana. All except two or three of them
showed blood blotches on their withers and back where they had been at-
t

tacked
-18-

tacked during the night by vampire bats which had fed on their blood. In the high altitudes from which we had just come the mules had spent three weeks without being attacked by a single vampire. From this elysium the poor beasts descended into the vampire infested cañon of the Urubamba where their comfort was further abridged by the multitude of burs of the *Triunfelta* bushes which clung to their manes and tails which in great masses and even fastened themselves on their short body hair. The vampire bat is plentifully distributed through Peru, from an altitude of 10,000 feet down to sea-level. A multitude of erroneous conceptions regarding this blood-thirsty scourge are met with in literature as well as among foreigners and natives within the countries inhabited by vampire bats. There is practically but a single species which possesses the

Two other blood-sucking species are known of the genera *Dinphylla* and *Diaemus* respectively, but both are exceedingly rare and only a dozen specimens have thus far been collected by naturalists. In general appearance and size they differ but little from the common vampire.

habit of blood-sucking. It is known to zoological science as
*Desmodus rotundus* and ranges widely in the American tropics extending
from southern Mexico southward through Central and South America as
far as Chile and the Argentine. The animal is one of the most highly

-19-

specialized species of existing bats and is a member of the *Phyllostome*
or leaf-nosed group. It has however lost its nose leaf to a large extent
owing to its abandonment of an insect diet. The ears, which in bats
are largely tactile structures to determine aircurrents and guide the
bat in its search for insect prey, are in this species also much abbrev-
iated so that mere remnants are left projecting but a short way beyond t
the head. The lower jaw is decidedly undershot and the head with its
short cropped ears and broad muzzle has a strikingly bulldog-like ap-
pearance. The tail is also wanting and the legs are well developed and
rather heavy enabling the animal to move fairly rapidly on the ground
in which situation it is by no means a shuffling, helpless creature
like many bats. If molested when thrown to the ground it will turn and
bite savagely. The degree of its specialization is perhaps best shown
by the teeth which are a highly modified cutting apparatus for making
incisions in the skins of mammals and birds. The cheek teeth or
grinders have their crowns modified into narrow and high cutting edges
which work against their fellows of the opposite jaw much as the blades
of scissors. Some four teeth only on each side take part in this cut-
ting function, all the other molar teeth being suppressed or actually

-20-

lost. Possessing teeth of a strictly cutting nature this bat cannot
crush insects so that it is now actually forced to feed on the blood
of other animals. Moreover, the gullet is so restricted or narrow that
only blood can be passed through it, and the stomach is weak walled
with the general appearance of an intestinal structure. I have on
several occasions examined the stomachs of these bats and have found
them to contain only coagulated or clotted blood. In size the vampire
is somewhat greater than our common brown bat, compared with which it is
a much heavier built animal. The spread between the tips of the out-
stretched wings is eight or ten inches, and the length of the body from
the tip of the snout to the insertion of the hind limbs is three and one
half inches. The coloration is a uniform mahogany brown on the dorsal
surface, but the undersurfaces have a more grayish cast. The hair
covering is rather sparse, short and coarse, and the whole animal has a
rather grim, forbidding appearance. In habits they are sociable, like
many other bats and are commonly found living in caves or tunnels
suspended from the ceiling in clusters often of immense size, represent-
ing several score individuals. A roosting place of this sort was dis-

-21-

# 54

covered in an abandoned tunnel of an old silver mine near the village of Puquiura in the Vilcabamba Valley and not far from the headwaters of the Vilcabamba River. The vampires were suspended from crevices in the ceiling of the tunnel within fifty feet of the entrance which was a short vertical shaft six feet in depth. Beneath the bats was a mass of muck composed of a glutinous, blackish, evil-smelling excrement from the blood diet. I waded into this oozy mess until knee deep ana to a point where I could fire into the suspended clusters of bats and secure specimens. The first few shots drove them away farther into the tunnel where I could not follow, owing to the increasing depth of the oozy floor. I had, however secured a dozen specimens and with these I scrambled back into daylight and fresh air. The bats, judging by the depth of the guano deposit had been living in this cave for an untold number of years. Every night they sallied forth to feed on the blood of the cattle and beasts of burden grazing in the surrounding meadows. It was a great surprise to me that the Peruvians did not hunt down the bat refuges in the caves where they could easily destroy the bats; but later I discovered that they were quite ignorant of which particular

-32-

species of bat possessed the blood-sucking habits. Most of the residents
of vampire infested districts had an idea that all species were blood-
suckers. The hopelessness of destroying all the species of bats in any
district kept them I have no doubt from attempting to destroy any. One of
the bats to which the blood-sucking habit is particularly connected by
native reports is a large species which in flight is about the size of
our screech owl. It is strictly an insect-feeding species, but has un-
fortunately had the name Vampyrus fastened on it as the scientific name
of its genus. To such Peruvians who visited my camp I exhibited specimens
of vampires together with the skulls, pointing out the blade-like charac-
ter of the teeth, and their function, but everyone seemed amazed to learn
that the blood-sucking was due solely to this particular species. The ani-
mals usually attacked by the vampire are cattle, mules, horses, and don-
keys. The size of these animals is so great that they feel only to a
limited extent the drain of blood made by a vampire or two each night.
Chickens are occasionally attacked and it is said that if the vampire
visits or feeds on the blood of the same chicken for two consecutive
nights that the animal is so weakened that death usually ensues. The

Our camp at the ruins of Cedrobamba was practically at forest line, but long tongues and straggling bits of forest extended 400 or 500 feet higher. One morning in May while out searching for viscachas on a rock slide bordering one of these long narrow tongues of forest we flushed a full grown white-tailed buck, the guerilla of South America. The Indian who was with me carried my shot-gun while I was armed with a 22-calibre automatic rifle but neither weapon was thought powerful enough to bag a deer. I accordingly made no attempt to shoot at the fleeing buck, not notwithstanding the excited assurances of my Indian that it might be done if I would only shoot. The buck ran down the hill and into another patch of forest and we turned away and proceeded up the mountainside again.

Within a few minutes a deer was seen coming back up the hill toward us following the edge of the tongue of forest. The Indian, Fernando, again grew excited and shouted to me that another deer was in sight, but it proved to be the same one, which was easily identifiable by the short horn stubs which it carried, the horns having been recently shed. This time the buck was seeking safety in the higher ridges and passed through the point of the forest and then along the grassy mountainside some 150

--29--

no great distress and ate a few ears of corn which were offered to it.

The head, however, of this animal was considerably smaller, especially
of the muzzle, but I could find no punctures or blood spots on the nose
which would indicate where the snake's fangs had entered. The mule show-
ed very little interest in the other members of the herd and when they
wandered away it continued to stand near my camp unconcerned. Something
very serious, however, was taking place in a mule when it failed to re-
spond to that strong affection for its fellows which guides almost every
act of its conduct during its whole existence. The mule had been brought
to the camp at eight in the morning. By noon its breathing became more
rapid and increased during the night so that it was distinctly audible
at 150 yards. When morning dawned the condition of the animal was
worse. Blood had been dripping slowly from its nostrils and mouth all
the previous day and now this had also increased. During the day the
mule showed some restlessness, occasionally lying down and then getting
up again nervously! Finally at 4 P.M. it walked a hundred yards fairly
briskly then lay down and died in a convulsion which lasted only a few

-30-

minutes. Before the poor brute gave up its life it brayed softly to
its companions, uttering a last querulous call for assistance, the SOS
of muledom. What sort of snake was responsible for the mule's death
we could not determine but every passerby on the road who saw the mule
pronounced it a case of snake venom. I was by no means certain of any
snake's responsibility in the affair and I suggested that some poisonous plant which the animal had eaten was the cause, but to the Peruvians such an idea seemed preposterous. Animals under the influence of
cobra venom have hemorrhages at the nostrils accompanied by internal
hemorrhages as well and great difficulty in respiration. Fer-de-lance
venom may also show such effects but at present it is not known to act
in this way. Voral snakes even though they succeeded in injecting this
their venom into a mule could scarcely produce fatal results in so large
an animal. The snakes which we secured in this the immediate vicinity
of the camp were a small brown species of a harmless character and a
snake which mimics the color of the coral snake. One of these latter
snakes (which has a red ground color banded by black rings at intervals
of an inch, and is about 18 inches in length) was captured one after-

-31-

noon beneath the bed of one of the arieros among the matted twigs
beneath the mattress. I examined its teeth carefully and made sure it
was not one of the highly venomous coral snakes for at first we thought
we had captured the real culprit that had bitten the mule.

The city of Machu Picchu is today as regards its fauna in much
the same condition as it was during the days of its occupation by the
Incas. The forest in which it was enveloped at the time of Dr. Bingham's
discovery brought with it forest birds and mammals which are quite dif-
ferent from the species which live in the open fields and ridges. Machu
Picchu ridge is in effect climatically quite similar to Ollantaytambo which
it nearly equals in altitude. To be sure the climate is considerably moist-
er and the region more forested but the ridge on which the ancient city is
situated is quite dry and received, owing to its exposed location, twelve
hours of sunshine daily. The commonest birds about the terraces are the
crested sparrow, black-headed grosbeak, the goldfinch, grey dove, and
brown robin which are the characteristic birds of the dry upland region
of Ollantaytambo. Condors were seen quite often on the ridge but they do
not descend lower into the cañon of the Urubamba. The mammals of the

-33-

# 54

tion and the steep ridges rise tier beyond tier to the distant snow-covered ranges of Toronto. The impossibility of crossing such a rugged region is at once apparent and this quality of inaccessibility, which it bears, gives it a further charm. The forests are deep blackish green in color and dense in appearance, the ridge tops are grassy and of a lighter green or in places where the bare rock is exposed of a dark slaty brown color, while beyond and above all is the inviolate white of the snow.

The little spectacled bear is a denizen of this upper forest
belt, and does not occur except sporadically beyond its boundaries.

We saw bears just at the upper edge of the forest where they came to
feed upon huckleberries, but their nervous watchfulness showed them
to be decidedly out of their environment when in the open grass country.

#53

-12-

occupying a distinct valley and living in large flocks in the forest,
where they fed upon the nut-like fruits of certain species of trees.

For-de-lance and other poisonous vipers inhabit the lower
portion of the zone up at least to an altitude of 8000 feet, on
favorably-situated, warm ridges, such as the one on which Machu Picchu

The pictures and statues were anything but beautiful or elevating.

On arrival we found it filled to the doors with kneeling
Indians. I followed the governor to the front, where we dispossessed
several Indians who, arriving early, had taken the best seats in the

-25-

With this exception I could find no evidence of the survival today
of any features of the old Inca religion. The work of the early
padres in substituting church feasts for those of the sun worship
seems to have been complete and the mixture of religious ceremony
and heathen superstition is absolute. In Chincheros nearly everyone,
including males, went to church - and this was the only church I saw in
Peru which had as many men in attendance as women. The church itself
was extremely dirty. The various altars were in a poor state of repair.
The pictures and statues were anything but beautiful or elevating.

COMMUNITY LIFE

-34-

synagogue only to be asked to move down. Not that they were worth
much as seats, for most of the time we were either kneeling or stand-
ing, but we took them as a matter of principle; i.e., to show the
superiority of the whites. In our desire to secure the high places
we neglected to do the first series of bowings and crossings as we
threaded our way through the kneeling crowd, but during the rest of

After mass had been said
the service we more than atoned for this neglect. The sacristans
picked up two silver implements, one a shield, and the other a cross,

-37-

On Compadres' day, February 4th, I attended a feast at Marcacocha, about three leagues northeast of Ollantaytambo. The name is applied to a small valley in which is a deserted chapel. The region around here was formerly thickly settled, but the inhabitants left and now only a chapel remains. This is famous as the residence of a small image of the Christ child which tradition states left the altar one day to play with a young girl who had entered the chapel.

As a result of this indiscretion on the part of the chalk image, every Compadres' day a feast is held here to celebrate this event. (It might be added here that it is not at all uncommon to find a lonely, deserted chapel used only once a year for the celebration of some feast, when large numbers of people gather from all sections. One of these held in July at a large church in the vicinity of Maras is the occasion of the most celebrated horse fair in the department.)

Merchants and vendors of knicknacks, cooked foods, and alcoholic beverages had arrived the day before and set up temporary booths. On the day itself (the feast at Marcacocha) two hundred of the residents

-36-

of nearby towns and villages came to enjoy the festivities, a number
coming from as far away as Urubamba. During the morning the time
was spent in renewing old acquaintances and getting drunk. At noon
a free lunch was dispensed to visiting celebrities. At two o'clock
mass was held by the priest from Ollantaytambo, after which the "infant"
was given an airing. Placed on a gaudily-decorated throne, it was
carried several hundred yards along the mountain trail, which happens
to be level just here, on the shoulders of religious volunteers,
desirous of performing a pious act. In several instances women become
so enthused that they offered their shoulders for brief intervals.
Every few rods the assemblage stopped and the cura went through a brief
service. Eventually the image was returned in safety to the altar where
it rests quietly for another year.

Dancers performed at intervals during the day, and held the
scene while the small plaza was prepared for a mock bullfight. No
killing was to take place for bulls were too valuable, but those desirous
of becoming famous as bull baiters were to be given their chance. It

-39-

took quite a while to build a pen in which the bull was to be excited
before being turned loose into the plaza, and still longer to get the
animal aroused. Even so, when the bull was finally forced into the
ring, it calmly looked the crowd over and withdrew. The same thing

Although the feast officially terminates on New Year's evening, it is kept up intermittently into the Feast of the Kings, which comes the 5th, 6th and 7th of January. On the 6th occurs another big day similar to the one just described. It had two added features. At the church the alcalde in charge of ecclesiastical affairs, had his staff blessed for him, and a small image of the Christ child was taken in a solemn procession from the gobernador's house to mass and back again.

-41-

of the flute.

Mass was celebrated both Sunday and Monday. All three
groups attended, but not many others were present. The feast con-
tinued through Tuesday. An *arranco de gallos* was supposed to take
place that day, but unfortunately we could not remain in town to see
it. This consists, so I was told, of tying several fowls to a high
branch and then having riders go full tilt under the tree and attempt
to grab them, the successful grabber keeping as a prize the fowl he
is able to carry off.

These constitute all the purely Indian feasts which I saw.
Each finca or hacienda has its own feast during the year in honor of
the patron saint of the proprietor, which vary in importance according
to the religious tendencies of the owner. Religion and superstition
are so thoroughly mixed that it is almost impossible to distinguish
the features which may have come down from the feasts of the old Inca
times. Drunkenness is invariably a leading part of the festivity,

-42-

as necessary for its success as the celebration of the mass itself.

## SUPERSTITION

It is difficult to get hold of things, apart from the religious customs, which might be classed as superstition. The custom of placing crosses on the houses is a religious superstition, and yet it is a practice closely connected with placing skulls of animals there to ward off ill luck. The highland Indians prefer not to sell sheep except in the early morning before they have left the fold, for the Indians believe that selling sheep at any other time is liable to hurt the breed. Many of them when they receive a coin, kiss it. The reason for this I never could find out. The mountain Indians are intensely afraid of fresh air. They bundle up around the throat and mouth even when walking barefooted in the snow, and their huts have no openings but a door. Kerosene is the great cure-all, especially for eye troubles. Rheumatism is "cured" and "prevented" by tying a string around the ankles. In Ollantaytambo one day an Indian seeing us carrying a camera fastened to a tripod,

-43-

thought we were diviners and asked us to please find out where his sweet-
heart was. As a general rule the Indians, especially the women, did not
like to pose for portraits, for they believe that the picture as taken is
an X-ray affair, showing them in anude condition. Their explanation of
our desire to carry away skulls is that on getting them to the United
States we can make them talk and thus we can acquire information about
buried treasure.

Most of the Indians are very poor. A few of the more
prosperous in the highlands may have a few head of stock, but that is
about all. A sheep is worth only a dollar, a llama two and a half,
burros two and a half to five, and a horse, such as an Indian might
have, is not worth more than ten or fifteen dollars. The Indian
whose total wealth would reach fifty dollars is probably an exception.
This, however, is not the case with the mestizos or cholos of Urubamba
who are often reputed to be worth several thousand. These have the
trading instinct very well developed. But the pure-blooded Indian has
little or no personal property. The Inca governmental system was not
(a) A mestizo is one of mixed Spanish and Indian blood. A cholo is
either a mestizo or an Indian servant, the term being used to designate
a social rather than a racial status.

-44-

calculated to encourage the growth of a spirit of acquisitiveness
and the long period of domination by Spanish conquerors and

(landed proprietors)
hacendados/has not tended that way. The highland natives seem
to have a little of it, but are often satisfied with merely keeping
alive.

A number of things may have contributed to this present
low condition: cocaine, ignorance, and alcohol. The deleterious
effects of the constant chewing of coca leaves has without doubt
played a very large part. There has been little effort on the part
of the government or the church to provide education for the average
Indian. One who can so much as write his name is the exception. The
most important cause of their decline, however, is probably the great
amount of alcohol which is drunk. With the Indian drinking always leads
to intoxication providing he can afford it. The habit of intoxication
has such a strong hold on these unfortunate people that the Indian's one
ambition has come to be to secure enough liquor to get him drunk.

-45-

Inebriation is more common in the small towns like Ollantaytambo where there is a relatively larger percentage of what might be classed as day laborers. The highland Indians are not so near the sources of supply, and their drunkenness consists more in periodical sprees when feasts take them to the towns. On the tropical plantations the Indian keeps fairly sober during workdays, but Sundays and holidays give him his opportunity. If the innumerable church feasts could be gotten rid of, drunkenness could be cut in half. But as long as the government and the large hacienda owners secure a large portion of their revenue from the sale of rum, the chance of any active steps being taken against intemperance is pretty small.

I found the Indian quite honest. Only two or three small articles were lost during the construction of our house at Yankihuasi. It was the custom to pay them a week's wages in advance, or a month's if they were hired that long, and we never met with very much disposition on their part to fail us, even in the case of the peons from Huarocondo who were practically forced labor.

-46-

In some ways the Indian is very capable and shows quite an ability to adapt himself to conditions at hand. When we made the trip over the old Inca trail from Huayllabamba to Machu Picchu, the laborers who accompanied us showed no small amount of skill at making rude shelters quickly of boughs and grass. When we had to replace bridges there was no hesitation at all as to how it should be done - they just went ahead and did it as if they had been making bridges all their lives. Considerable skill and carefulness were shown in some of the building operations with which they were familiar, but when it came to mastering the intricacies of pushing a wheelbarrow, they seemed to be helpless. I have heard some of the Peruvian upper class say that it is hopeless to try and raise the Indian. It certainly is with the present attitude towards them, and as long as the sale of coca and alcohol is not stopped and the Indian given little or no education.

As it is, existence is very dreary. Practically the Indians' only pleasures are the beastial carousals. The children have no toys

--47-

and are almost never engaged in play. As soon as they are able to
walk they are set to work. In the highlands sheep are herded by boys
and girls scarcely as tall as the animals themselves. As there is
always a new baby in the family, there is always nursery work for the
"little mothers", and one often sees a child of four staggering under
the weight of a "baby bundle" nearly as large as itself. Only in two
instances did I see any signs of affection towards infants. At
Pucyura while I was talking with an Indian woman who had a baby a year
old, her daughter, a girl of perhaps twelve came home. She immediately
grabbed up the baby, kissed it several times, and for a few moments
acted as though she really cared for the little tot. In Ollantaytambo
the head mason who worked on our house showed a great deal of pride in
his baby and used to try to amuse it during the breakfast and supper
hour. The children have no games. They are early taught to collect
firewood and forage wherever they can. Several times in Ollantaytambo
I saw a little girl who could not have been over three years old driving
home a sheep loaded with small branches which the child had collected

-48-

for firewood. As a race they are very taciturn. The struggle
for existence is so keen that they have no strength left for pursuits
of pleasure. The highlanders seldom smile or laugh. Their talk is
always subdued and almost monotonous in sound. In the valleys life
is a little easier and existence not quite so drab. Here one does
occasionally see a smile and the _chola_ women of Urubamba are usually
laughing and joking as they pass along the trail. But they are of
mixed blood and not typical of the pure-blooded Indian.

They are essentially a kindly people and are generous one
with another. I had a good chance to observe them during their break-
fast and supper hours while they were working on Yankihuasi. If one
man's wife arrived a little late, the others would start him on some-
thing of theirs and this would always be paid back when the first's
supply arrived. The laborers of Ollantaytambo showed a kindly spirit
towards those of Huarocondo and in many cases where these, having come
without their women, had little to eat but parched corn and habas beans,
the local Indians offered them some of their own warm stews.

-49-

Both towards each other and towards the white people they are very polite. But it is hard to tell how much of their courtesy towards the upper class is subserviency and fear. After seeing the bowing and scraping which was performed by some of the Indians before the gobernador of Chinoheros, the humble way in which others kissed the hands of the curas, the way that the women shrunk into the brush at the approach along the trail of a white man, and the care used in addressing each one of us personally, I am inclined to believe that in their relations with the upper class it is fear rather than courtesy which actuates them to a large extent. And yet they are almost as courteous with one another. When a new comer joins a group he always speaks to each member of it, taking off his hat. If chicha is being drunk the new comer is invited to share, and a place is always made for him in the circle. They embrace each other when leaving, although I never saw any kissing.

In my personal relations with the Indians I always met with the greatest courtesy. Whenever I went into a hut, the owner always

-50-

saw to it that I had a sheepskin or blanket to sit on, after which
he or she usually resumed their occupations. My efforts to talk
Quichua with them always met with a good reception and they would
try in every way to understand me and make themselves understood.

The women, while of course not considered of as much importance as
the men, are really treated in a manner better than the example set
by the upper classes would lead one to expect. In the case of the
pure-blooded Indians it is rare to see the man riding and woman walk-
ing, although it is often so in the case of the mestizos.

None of the Indians whom I met showed symptoms of being
beggars; in fact they were more inclined to make us presents. During
the six weeks spent at Chincheros I was never asked for anything
excepting in one case where a drunken man asked me for the loan of a
cigarette. Several times eggs were given me by the natives. They
often came asking for the tins that we threw away, but never asked for
anything which we could use ourselves. The request for a little
kerosene for medicinal purposes could hardly be considered begging,

-51-

and in most cases they offered to pay for it with eggs or chickens.
One of the workmen at Ollantaytambo acquired a violent liking for
the trowel he used and the small pocket level I had. But he never
asked for them, and at the end of the work he tried to buy them. When
I gave them to him he fell on my neck.

The Indians show little violence towards each other and a
white man is as safe among them as he is in the United States, and more
so than in a place like New York !

O.H.

The result of our studies of the highland Indians of Southern
Peru leads me to conclude as follows:

While it must be admitted that the Indians seldom bathe and
have some filthy habits, this is partly the result of living in the cold,
high Andes, and partly due to ignorance. One must admit that, as has

-52-

been said, they are prone to drunkenness and seem to be without any
ambition except to do their bit when the necessity for providing for
one of the civil or religious feasts arises. Taking everything into
consideration however, particularly the lack of efforts on the part
of the upper classes to educate them or regulate the use of alcohol and
cocaine, I believe that the Peruvian Indian has the basis of a creditable
character, and that he is worth study and development. If the Govern-
ment of Peru would follow the example of the United States Government
in making it a crime to sell alcohol and cocaine to the native Indian,
while their immediate revenue would be greatly curtailed, there is no
question that ultimately the country would be far better off and able to
support a more modern system of taxation.

H.B.