as soon as they reach the age of six or seven, are rarely expected to do much except watch their charges.  Some of them were accompanied by long-haired suncca shepherd dogs, as large as Airedales, but very cowardly, given to barking and slinking away.  It is claimed that the sunccas, as well as two other varieties, were domesticated by the Incas.  None of them showed any desire to make the acquaintance of “Checkers,” my faithful Airedale.  Their masters, however, were always interested to see that “Checkers” could understand English.  They had never seen a dog that could understand anything but Quichua!

On the hillside near La Raya, Mr. Cook, Mr. Gilbert, and I visited a healthy potato field at an elevation of 14,500 feet, a record altitude for potatoes.  When commencing to plough or spade a potato field on the high slopes near here, it is the custom of the Indians to mark it off into squares, by “furrows” about fifteen feet apart.  The Quichuas commence their task soon after daybreak.  Due to the absence of artificial lighting and the discomfort of rising in the bitter cold before dawn, their wives do not prepare breakfast before ten o’clock, at which time it is either brought from home in covered earthenware vessels or cooked in the open fields near where the men are working.

We came across one energetic landowner supervising a score or more of Indians who were engaged in “ploughing” a potato field.  Although he was dressed in European garb and was evidently a man of means and intelligence, and near the railroad, there were no modern implements in sight.  We found that it is difficult to get Indians to use any except the implements of their ancestors.  The process of “ploughing” this field was undoubtedly one that had been used for centuries, probably long before the Spanish Conquest.  The men, working in unison and in a long row, each armed with a primitive spade or “foot plough,” to the handle of which footholds were lashed, would, at a signal, leap forward with a shout and plunge their spades into the turf.  Facing each pair of men was a girl or woman whose duty it was to turn the clods over by hand.  The men had taken off their ponchos, so as to secure greater freedom of action, but the women were fully clothed as usual, modesty seeming to require them even to keep heavy shawls over their shoulders.  Although the work was hard and painful, the toil was lightened by the joyous contact of community activity.  Every one worked with a will.  There appeared to be a keen desire among the workers to keep up with the procession.  Those who fell behind were subjected to good-natured teasing.  Community work is sometimes pleasant, even though it appears to require a strong directing hand.  The “boss” was right there.  Such practices would never suit those who love independence.