Not one soldier receives any pay, throughout the whole district of St. Iago. The colonists are all divided into companies, some of which consist of two hundred men, more or less. Each has its captain, lieutenant, ensign, (though that is a mere title, for they have no ensigns,) and corporals. It is the captain's duty to call out the soldiers to an excursion. The lieutenant's business is to guard the horses, both by day, when they are driven all together along the road, without riders, and by night, when they are grazing in the open plain. Many take long journeys on one horse, but the more opulent carry four, or even ten, and ride them by turns. The ensigns act in the place of the lieutenant, when he is absent, or resting. In each of the territories of the province, there is a master of the watch, called _Sargento Mayor_, who has the chief command both over the captains and their companies, and orders which are to go to war. This officer, sometimes from partiality, sometimes from being corrupted by bribes, suffers the richer people to remain at home, and forces the poorer, and generally the least able, to attend the militia. All condemn, but none dare to correct this abominable custom, the pernicious effects of which extend to the whole province. Barreda permitted nobody to be appointed for an expedition, who did not possess at least four horses, and who had neither brothers nor grown-up sons at home, to manage his domestic affairs in his absence. During my stay there, the whole province of St. Iago contained eleven companies, which took their names from their captains. Beside these, there is a company of scouts, called _Batidores del campo_, containing fewer than the others, but those few of tried sagacity and courage. The chief and the champion of this company was Landriel, who, as a remuneration for his well-known merits, was declared camp-master by the Governour of Tucuman. But I should have been better pleased to have heard of his having been enriched with money, or a pension, than adorned with an empty title. According to report, his father was not of low birth, but his mother must have been an Indian, to judge from his features, speech, and complexion. He was born in a village of St. Iago. Reading and writing were the extent of his attainments. He was courteous and upright in his manners, endowed with a quick understanding, with singular prudence and piety, and robust, though middle-sized in stature. He always led a single life, to the best of my remembrance. I visited him on my return from the city, when he dwelt with his mother, in a miserable hut, not far from Soconcho, on the banks of the river Dulce, and was grieved to witness the poverty of so famous a man. The Governour granted him the field Alarcòn, which extends many leagues, and is rich in woods, but being surrounded with a vast desert, and consequently liable to the incursions of the savages, cannot be cultivated with safety.