The Leper
Was Most Hospitable, However; He Killed A Sheep For Us, And We Sat
Down To A Feast Of Mutton.
After this we pushed on to water the
horses.
By sunset we arrived at a cattle ranch near the river Ipane,
and there we stayed for the night. At supper all dipped in the same
stew-pan, and afterwards rinsed out the mouth with large draughts of
water, which they squirted back on the brick floor of the dining-
room. The men then smoked cigarettes of tobacco rolled in corn
leaves, and the women smoked their six-inch-long cigars. Finding that
two of the men understood Spanish, I read some simple parts of
scripture to them by the light of a dripping grease lamp. They
listened in silence, and wondered at the strange new story. The
mosquitoes were so troublesome that a large platform, twenty feet
high, had been erected, and after reading all the inmates of the
house, with us, ascended the ladder leading to the top. There the
mosquitoes did not disturb us, so we slept peacefully on our aerial
roost between the fire-flies of the earth and the stars of heaven.
Next day we came to a solitary house, where I noticed strings of meat
hung in the sun to dry. This is left, like so many stockings and
handkerchiefs, hanging there until it is hard as wood; it will then
keep for an indefinite time. There we got a good dinner of fresh
beef, and about ten pounds of the dried meat (charqui) to take away
with us.
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