The following incident illustrates the superstition of these aborigines. One day Pedro and I went to an Indian house to buy some souvenirs. Here, the aged owner of the hut had an old, worthless _bodoqueda_[38] that he wished to sell me, and insisted so strongly upon my buying it that I lost patience and spoke to him rather harshly. Instantly one of our Santiago Indians, who seemed to have taken rather a liking to me, called me aside and implored me not to offend the old Indian, who was a noted _brujo_ or wizard, for, if I did, he would surely visit some fearful punishment upon me, such as making me blind or insane, or even worse. Although I laughed and explained to him that the wizard was nothing but an old fraud and could do me no harm, the good fellow could not be convinced, but still clung to his belief. Such superstitions are very common among all these aborigines. During the next two days only three of our Santiago Indians showed up, thus delaying us in the same manner as they had done at Pasto and at Sibundoy. In this interval we made the acquaintance of Don Octavio Materón, a junior partner in a company, formed in Pasto, for the purpose of cultivating rubber on the Upper Putumayo. The manager, Don Gabriel Martínez, to whom Jurado had given us a letter of introduction, had, we learned, gone down in his capacity as _corregidor_ to the Caraparaná, leaving Materón and the other partner, Gonzalez, in charge. Materón had come to Mocoa to bring down some _bultos_ of merchandise that had been delayed here, and, finding that we were going his way, kindly decided to wait for us. On Monday morning, November 25th, the Indians sent by the _Intendente_ arrived, ready to take our effects to Guineo. As there were still two _bultos_ lacking, we decided that Perkins and Pedro should go on with the five _bultos_ that were ready and await my arrival in Guineo, while I remained in Mocoa to take down the other two _bultos_ as soon as the _cargadores_ should arrive with them. So, bidding goodbye to Perkins and Pedro and arranging with the remaining Indians to return in three or four days, I resumed my weary task of waiting. As we had been informed that it would be necessary to purchase a canoe here, I made several inquiries and at last was directed to one Bernardo Ochoa, a lean, bilious-looking _aguardiente_[39]-merchant, a victim of the _carate_, who had a canoe in Guineo that he would sell. I did not fancy buying a canoe without seeing it, but, as both Materón and the _Intendente_ assured me that it was large, well-preserved, and quite worth sixty dollars "hard," I began negotiations with the man, who at first asked one hundred dollars, but, after a great deal of haggling, finally sold it to me for eighty dollars "hard." At the same time I bought a small barrel of _aguardiente_, as I was told that it would greatly facilitate intercourse, not only with the Indians, but also with the "whites" who inhabit the region.