straining out the honey of the wild bee, called _tosimi_,
which a party of bee-hunters, just returned to the _tolderia_, has
brought home.

A few of the men may also be observed moving about, or standing in
groups on the open ground adjoining the _malocca_; but at this hour most
of them are on horseback out upon the adjacent plain, there galloping to
and fro, gathering their flocks and herds, and driving them towards the
_corrals_; these flocks and herds composed of horned cattle, sheep, and
goats--the Tovas Indians being somewhat of a pastoral people. No
savages they, in the usual sense of the term, nor yet is hunting their
chief occupation. This they follow now and then, diversifying the chase
by a warlike raid into the territory of some hostile tribe, or as often
some settlement of the palefaces. For all civilisation of a certain
kind has made progress among them; having its origin in an early
immigration from Peru, when the "Children of the Sun" were conquered by
Pizarro and his _conquistadores_. At that time many Peruvians, fleeing
from the barbarous cruelty of their Spanish invaders, sought asylum in
the Chaco, there finding it; and from these the Tovas and other tribes
have long ago learnt many of the arts of civilised life; can spin their
own thread, and sew skilfully as any sempstress of the palefaces; weave
their own cloth, dress and dye it in fast colours of becoming patterns;
in short, can do many kinds of mechanical work, which no white artisan
need feel ashamed to acknowledge as his own. Above all, are they famed
for the "feather-work," or plume embroidery--an art peculiarly Indian--
which, on their first becoming acquainted with it, astonished the rough
soldiers of Cortez and Pizarro, as much as it delighted them.

To this day is it practised among several of the South American tribes,
notably those of the Gran Chaco, while the Tovas particularly excel in
it. But perhaps the highest evidence of these Indians having some
civilisation, is their form of government, which is in reality
Republican. For their _cacique_, or chief, although sometimes allowed
to rule by hereditary succession, is more often chosen by the sub-chiefs
and warriors; in short, elected just as the President of a Republic.

This gives the key to Aguara's doubts and fears on returning to the
Sacred Town with Francesca Halberger as his captive. Nor are the latter
yet allayed, despite three days having elapsed since his return. Tho