Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/345

Rh higher or lower, decides all their satisfaction or grief. On a view of these contrarieties, it appears that the influence of opinion may overbalance that of Nature, the energies of which may be occasionally subdued by still more powerful impressions. There are men who suffer patiently both hunger and nakedness; who sleep tranquilly on wretched stools; who deprive themselves without regret of whatever society presents, of the most agreeable and consolatory description, in its civil bonds; and who then tremble, weep, become confused, and lose their reason, if in a casual encounter the left hand be touched instead of the right; if any one pronounce their name without annexing to it a flattering epithet; or if another combine the letters of the alphabet in this or in that manner, when it is to be described in writing. This is a species of insanity which has found its way into the obscure retreats destined for humility, patience, and freedom from error. Those who labour under this infirmity ought to blush, when they perceive that they are on a footing with these untutored negroes, and exposed to the same ridicule.

At two o'clock in the afternoon the assemblies which have been already cited regularly commence. The first hour of the session is employed in treating whatever may contribute to the advantage of the nation, in regulating the contributions, in bringing forward and settling the disputes which may have arisen between husband and wife, &c. The corporals give an account to the tribe, of the mode they have adopted in the disbursement of the contributions, and of the purposes to which the surplus, if there be any, is to be applied. What is most interesting, in these meetings, to the philosophical observer, is the formality with which the rulers and vassals nounce,