Because of a ruthless band of renegades living in the mountains no foreign woman on the island dared leave her home without an escort. Dog flesh to the mountaineers was a delicacy. They bred dogs for the purpose but there never were enough, so whenever they kidnapped a woman her ransom was in dogs. Mrs. Claussen said with a smile that she and her husband had grown quite fond of their servant, Opeda. Good looking and gentle he was in his early twenties. When he received his dog he took it to the mountaineers and stayed for two days. Curious about him they wondered what happened during the interim, then one night he came home in a rage and told them.

The men and the youths were seated around a fire in a gulch. The dogs, skinned and debowled, had been stuffed with nutmeg skins then covered with mud and thrown into the fire to bake. The men sang. One beat a rhythm with a buffalo bone on an empty oil can while a youth stripped to a batik loin cloth danced, his sensuous movements directed at the chief. At the end the chief got up and led the dancer into the night. This was a terrible disgrace to Opeda. He neglected his work and sulked for weeks, Mrs. Claussen said.

It is a custom on the island for a widow to drape a chain around her hips. A lock on it holds the two ends together and it hangs in front of her crotch. She wears it until a man produces a key. Opeda, feeling widowish, hung a chain and lock over his but nothing happened. Mrs. Claussen, tired of his moping, took two dogs to the chief in the mountains and told him they were his if he would get rid of the dancer and take Opeda back. It worked and Opeda behaved like a silly bride.

On the other side of the world. Cuzco, snuggled deep in the rugged

Peruvian Andes would sleep contentedly were it not for the Amantus. While they come only once a year they never leave it quite the same, that is the male population in Cuzco and in their own countries as well. Ranging in ages from the early twenties to the middle fifties, most of them are confirmed bachelors and those who aren't regret they weren't always wise and subsequently become bachelor minded to the disgust of the women friends.

The name Amantus was the one given the wise men in the Inca king's royal court; better educated than any in his kingdom he chose them for his administrators. Following the custom of thier ancestors the Amantus today wear their very black hair in bangs over their foreheads on which rests a gold band containing an all seeing eye of emerald. Among themselves they speak only the Quecha language. During the week long conclave they live in the Pizzaro palace facing the square, and for their one public appearance which is in the square at sunrise they wear robes of vicuna, nothing more. They chant this ancient Inca prayer, over and over:

O Uri-cocha! Lord of the Universe Whether thou art male or female Lord of reproduction Whatsoever thou mayst be O Lord of Divination Where art thou?

The prayer ended, all stand as motionless as wooden statues for an entire hour and concentrate, upon what only they know. It is one of the principles of the Amantus' faith never to use physical force. Should someone become obstreperous and need be chastized, collectively they concentrate on him, and, as some metaphysicians say "know the truth about him". The victim, ignorant of their mental castigations, blames the change on an idiosyncrasy of fate. Every day an Amantus, to keep in practice must concen-

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