The few agricultural slaves yet left in the country have usually allotted to them a _tarea_, or daily task, so light and easy, as far at least as we have had any opportunity of knowing, that it is soon executed; and whatever work any one of them does over and above this daily task, he is paid for as if he were a freeman. Were he indeed to value his personal freedom, he could thus secure it to himself by fair means, and at the cost of moderate industry. A few of the more ambitious of this class have really availed themselves of so good an opportunity to effect their own emancipation; but in general the slave population in Peru do not appear solicitous to change their circumstances, nor are they very conscious of anything abject in their condition. They well know that they enjoy a degree of liberty which they consider sufficient, and which they sometimes are pleased to exercise to suit their own convenience: for example, if you are assisted by a slave, it is not unlikely that, when least expected, he will tell you it is his desire, and he demands it as his right, that he be sold or transferred to a purchaser of his own choice and finding; and, should he once become restive, he is best got rid of quickly, as until that is the case no more good comes of him. If the servant should be not a slave, but a dusky freeman of slave descent, he is so accustomed to self-indulgence, that he must daily have his own hours of pleasure, whether his master will or not; and, if found fault with, he replies in the usual ejaculation, “Quien quiere matarse con trabajar?”—Who would kill himself with toil? Those again who rely on the assistance of an Indian, (nominally free, though virtually a slave, working for a mere maintenance and some trifling gratuity,) reared up from childhood in their own houses and for their own particular service,—a very customary thing to do,—are commonly, in the long run, left in the lurch; for, when a good opportunity offers, away starts the _cerrano_ or mountaineer, whether male or female, for Guamanga, Guamantanga, or some such mountain home. The Indian girl thus reared in some private family is commonly very useful until she attains the age of twelve or fifteen, when she looks out for a mate, with whom she can fly to the hills, to be happy in a smoky hut, and on a llama-skin couch; and the shrewd and quick-eyed Indian boy, with head and hands to conceive and execute, no sooner gets a little insight into good service or some handicraft, than he meditates upon and watches the opportunity for escaping to his native home, “mi tierra!” and, sooner or later, he is sure to effect his object. Yet, notwithstanding this disposition to desertion, where an Indian does become personally attached to his employer, which is not often, his fidelity and constancy are allowed to be unbounded.