of Salta or Jujuy, where the salt is sold for about 15 cents gold per block. The asses travel very slowly, and the Indians re- quire about a month and a half to go from their huts to the salt beds, thence to the city, and back again to their habita- tions. A journey of 250 miles over a month and a half gives them about 40 pesos in return. Corn is taken in exchange for the salt as a rule. They have to pay for part of the forage they use on the way and also a government tax.
In their travels the natives of Susques do not enter a city. They camp in abandoned or worthless places in the suburbs and do their business with special merchants with whom they are accustomed to deal. The capitén of the town at the time of Boman’s visit, though he had often gone to the little tribu- tary towns about Salta, had never visited the principal plaza of Salta, had not seen the cathedral, yet had for the bishop there a veneration as great as his ancestors probably had for the Incas. During the time that they are near such a town they never speak with other Indians whom they meet.
Conservative Customs and Beliefs
Children are taken if necessary to great distances to be baptized by a priest—some even to San Pedro de Atacama on the farther side of the cordillera; others are baptized by the priest who annually visits Susques. The Indians also go to San Pedro to be married. A local Indian reads the service in the church of Susques without understanding a word of it and also conducts the burial service. A certain number of children are born out of wedlock and have no hesitation in mentioning it and in giving the name of the father. A great many of the women have children by different fathers before marriage, and the numbcr of children increases the martiageability of the young mother, children constituting a sort of marriage portion since each one of them is capable at the age of seven or eight years of caring for a certain number of sheep or llamas. Such children are adopted by the father on marriage and are considered equals of the legitimate children born later. The fortune of an individual depends considerably
