who had manned some canoes and proceeded up the river as far as the
plantain grounds of the Indians, loaded his boats with the
plantains, and brought them down to San Carlos, where the people
appear to be too indolent to grow them themselves. All who have
ascended the river speak of the great quantities of plantains that
the Guatuses grow, and this fruit, and the abundant fish of the
river, form their principal food. Their houses are large sheds open
at the sides, and thatched with the "suiti" palm. As is often the
case amongst the Indians, several families live in one house. The
floor is kept well cleaned. I was amused with a lady in San Carlos
who, in describing their well-kept houses to Dr. Seemann and
myself, pointed to her own unswept and littered earth floor and
said, "They keep their houses very, very clean--as clean as this."
The lad and the woman who were captured and brought down the Rio
Frio both ran away--the one from San Carlos, the other from
Castillo; but neither could succeed in reaching home, on account of
the swamps and rivers in their way, and after wandering about the
woods for some time they were recaptured. I saw the lad soon after
he was taken the second time. He had been a month in the woods,
living on roots and fruits, and had nearly died from starvation. He
had an intelligent, sharp, and independent look about him, and kept
continually talking in his own language, apparently surprised that
the people around him did not understand what he was saying. He was
taken to Castillo, and met there the woman who had been captured a
year before, and had learnt to speak a little Spanish. Through her
as an interpreter, he tried to get permission to return to the Rio
Frio, saying that if they would let him go he would come back and
bring his father and mother with him. This simple artifice of the
poor boy was, of course ineffectual. He was afterwards taken to
Granada, for the purpose, they said, of being educated, that he