At Other Places There Are Smaller Shrines With A Statuette Of
The Virgin Inside, And Candles Invariably Burning, Provided By The
Generous Wayfarers.
It is interesting to note that the old Indians
had, at the advent of the Spaniards, cairns of stones
Along their
paths, and the pious Indian would contribute a stone when he passed
as an offering to Pachacamac, who would keep away the evil spirits.
That custom is still kept up by the Christian (?) Paraguayan, with
the difference that now it is given to the Virgin. My guide would
get down from his horse when we arrived at these altars, and
contribute a stone to the ever-growing heap. If a specially bright
one is offered, he told me it was more gratifying to the goddess.
Feeling that we were very likely to meet with many evil spirits,
Timoteo carefully sought for bright stones. The people are very
religious, yet with it all are terribly depraved! The truth is seldom
spoken, and my guide was, unfortunately, no exception to the rule. As
we left the haunts of men, and difficulties thickened, he would often
entreat the help of Holy Mary, but in the same breath would lie and
curse!
Sighting a miserable hut, we called to inquire for meat. The master
of the house, I discovered, was a leper, and I further learned, on
asking if I might water my horses, that the nearest water was three
miles away. The man and wife and their large family certainly looked
as though water was a luxury too costly to use on the skin.
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