One day a party of Indians made camp on the bank of a creek not far from La Danta, and immediately built a rock and mud dam across the little waterway. Then they crushed a great many leaves of the yucca-plant and threw them into the stream. The milky juice quickly mingled with the water, and soon scores of catfish came to the top, stupefied by the poison, and floating on their backs. They were gathered by the basketful and taken away by the Indians. These catfish, living in rapid mountain streams, are provided with a sucking disk which enables them to attach themselves to a rock to rest; otherwise they would be washed down stream, as they are not very powerful swimmers. The cost of being married is so high in some South American countries that in many cases the ceremony is dispensed with. Occasionally, however, bands of missionaries visit a region and attempt to undo the wrong inflicted by the local _padres_ by uniting in marriage free of charge all those who appear before them for that purpose. The _padres_ are not always to blame; frequently the inhabitants are simply too indifferent or lazy to go through the formalities, or there may be no one in their midst to look after their spiritual wants. While we were at La Danta a half-dozen priests came to Guadaloupe and urged the _paisanos_ to take advantage of this opportunity to become united in wedlock according to the ritual of the church. The people listened to the exhortations, promised to heed the admonitions, and--failed to show up at the proper time. Then the _padres_ lost patience and talked the matter over with the _jefe_. The latter sent out soldiers to scour the country and bring in all the offenders living together within a radius of many miles; the pairs were frequently brought in handcuffed together, all objections and excuses being promptly overruled or ignored by the officiating clergy. Then they were lined up and married. Several weeks later I was the guest of a very high government official in another state. In the course of dinner conversation the _señora_ asked me in the most casual way: “Tell me! In your country, do people get married, or _así, no más_ like here?” The last phrase was accompanied by a dainty snap of the fingers. I am afraid I said: “_Así, no más!_” From _peons_ working on the new road we learned that their operations had extended to a point near the top of the range, and that a _tambo_, or rest-shack, had been built there to shelter the laborers. We immediately started for the place and by dint of hard travel reached it in one day’s time. The shack bore the name Andalucia and was seven thousand nine hundred feet up. The _peons_ gladly shared their quarters with us, and we divided our rations with them, which must have been a welcome change from their everlasting boiled corn and _panela_.