Peruvian mountain dogs are the most vicious and spiteful. They will
bite even the friends of their own masters, and very often their masters
themselves have to use the stick to keep them in subjection. I believe
the dogs found among many tribes of your North-American Indians have a
very similar disposition, though by no means to compare in fierceness
and savage nature with their cousins of the cold Puna.

"The masters of these dogs are generally Indians, and it is a strange
fact, that they are much more spiteful towards the whites than Indians.
It is difficult for a white man to get on friendly terms with them.

"After a good deal of kicking and cuffing, my host succeeded in making
his kennel understand that I had not come there to be eaten up. I then
alighted from my horse, and walked (I should say crawled) inside the
hut.

"This was, as I have already stated, a mere hovel. A circular wall of
mud and stone, about five feet high, supported a set of poles that
served as rafters. These poles were the flower stalks of the great
American aloe, or maguey-plant--the only thing resembling wood that grew
near. Over these was laid a thick layer of Puna grass, which was tied
with strong ropes of the same material, to keep it from flying off when
the wind blew violently, which it there often does. A few blocks of
stone in the middle of the floor constituted the fireplace, and the
smoke got out the best way it could through a hole in the roof.

"The owner of this mansion was a true Indian, belonging to one of those
tribes of the mountains that could not be said ever to have been
conquered by the Spaniards. Living in remote districts, many of these
people never submitted to the _repartimientos_, yet a sort of religious
conquest was made of some of them by the missionaries, thus bringing
them under the title of `Indios mansos' (tame Indians), in
contradistinction to the `Indios bravos,' or savage tribes, who remain
unconquered and independent to this day.

"As already stated, I had come by appointment to share the day's hunt.
I was invited to partake of breakfast. My host, being a bachelor, was
his own cook, and some parched maize and `macas,' with a roasted
chinchilla, furnished the repast.

"Fortunately, I carried with me a flask of Catalan brandy; and this,
with a cup of water from the icy mountain spring, rendered our meal more
palatable I was not without some dry tobacco, and a husk to roll it in,
so that we enj