e matter of
surprise if they wreak cruel vengeance on the enemies of their race?

Since the War of Independence, the Indians have made immense progress.
During the civil war, which was kept up uninterruptedly for the space of
twenty years, they were taught military manoeuvres and the use of
fire-arms. After every lost battle the retreating Indians carried with
them in their flight their muskets, which they still keep carefully
concealed. They are also acquainted with the manufacture of gunpowder,
of which in all their festivals they use great quantities for squibs and
rockets. The materials for the preparation of gunpowder are found in
abundance in the valleys of the Sierra.

In the year 1841, when I was passing through a miserable village on the
confines of one of the Montanas of Central Peru, I took up my abode for
some days in the hut of an Indian, and whilst there I accidentally saw
eighteen muskets which were deposited in a place of concealment. I,
quite unsuspectingly, inquired of the Indian, why he thought it
requisite to keep so many weapons of defence? He replied, with a
sinister frown, that the time would come when he should find them
useful. I could easily perceive that my accidental discovery was by no
means agreeable to him; and from the very marked change which I observed
in his manner. I deemed it prudent to withdraw from the village and its
vicinity. Whilst my horse was being saddled, I noticed my host and some
of his confidential friends engaged in very earnest conversation, and I
could easily perceive that I was the subject of it. On my departure the
Indian asked me, with apparent friendliness of manner, which way I was
going? When I was beyond the sphere of his observation, I deemed it
prudent to proceed quite in an opposite direction from the route which I
told him I intended to take.

The character of the Peruvian Indian is essentially gloomy. It was not
always so, if we may give credit to the animated pictures drawn by early
travellers in Peru; but three hundred years of oppression and suffering
have impressed their melancholy stamp on the feelings and manners of the
people. This gloominess is strikingly manifested in their songs, their
dances, their dress, and their whole domestic economy. The favorite
musical instruments of the Indians are those called the _Pututo_ and the
_Jaina_. The former is a large conch, on which they perform mournful
music, as the accompaniment of their funeral dances. I