Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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The Road Skirted With The Bamboos Above Mentioned Led Us To The
Small Village Of San Fernando, Situated In A Narrow Plain,
Surrounded By Very Steep Calcareous Rocks.
This was the first
Mission* we saw in America.
(* A certain number of habitations
collected round a church, with a missionary monk performing the
ministerial duties, is called in the Spanish colonies Mision, or
Pueblo de mision. Indian villages, governed by a priest, are called
Pueblos de doctrina. A distinction is made between the Cura
doctrinero, who is the priest of an Indian parish, and the Cura
rector, priest of a village inhabited by whites and men of mixed
race.) The houses, or rather the huts of the Chayma Indians, though
separate from each other, are not surrounded by gardens. The
streets, which are wide and very straight, cross each other at
right angles. The walls of the huts are made of clay, strengthened
by lianas. The uniformity of these huts, the grave and taciturn air
of their inhabitants, and the extreme neatness of the dwellings,
reminded us of the establishments of the Moravian Brethren. Besides
their own gardens, every Indian family helps to cultivate the
garden of the community, or, as it is called, the conuco de la
comunidad, which is situated at some distance from the village. In
this conuco the adults of each sex work one hour in the morning and
one in the evening. In the missions nearest the coast the garden of
the community is generally a sugar or indigo plantation, under the
direction of the missionary; and its produce, if the law were
strictly observed, could be employed only for the support of the
church and the purchase of sacerdotal ornaments.
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