_Marriage among the timaguas_. The timaguas do not follow these usages,
because they have no property of their own. They do not observe the
ceremony of joining hands over the dish of rice, through respect for
the chiefs; for that ceremony is for chiefs only. Their marriage is
accomplished when the pair unite in drinking pitarrilla from the
same cup. Then they give a shout, and all the guests depart; and
they are considered as married, for they are not allowed to drink
together until late at night. The same ceremony is observed by rich
and respectable slaves.

_Marriage among the slaves_. But the poor slaves, who serve in
the houses, marry each other without drinking and without any
go-between. They observe no ceremony, but simply say to each other,
"Let us marry." If a chief have a slave, one of his ayoiys, who serves
in the house, and wishes to marry him to a female slave of the same
class belonging to another chief, he sends an Indian woman as agent
to the master of the female slave, saying that her master wishes to
marry one of his male slaves to the other's female slave. After the
marriage has been arranged, he gives his slave an earthen jar, or three
or four dishes, and there is no other ceremony. Half of the children
born to this couple will belong to the master of the female slave,
and the other half will belong to the master of the male slave. When
the time comes when their children are able to work for their masters,
the parents are made tumaranpoques, as we have said; because when a
male slave of one chief marries the female slave of another chief, they
immediately receive a house for their own use, and go out to work for
their masters. If a freeman marries a female slave, or _vice versa_,
half of the children are slaves. Thus, if there are two children,
one is free and the other a slave, as the parents may choose.

In one thing these natives seem to go beyond all reason and justice. It
is usage among them that, if an Indian of one village owes twenty pesos
(to suppose a case) to an Indian in another village, and when asked
for the money refuses to repay it, when any Indian of that village
where the said twenty pesos is due is caught, they seize him--even
if he is in no way related to or acquainted with the debtor--and
compel him to pay the twenty pesos. It is their custom that he who
first owed the twenty pesos must return to him who paid that sum forty
pesos instead, on account of the violence used against