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Title: Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon, Part 1 (of 2)

Author: William Lewis Herndon
Lardner Gibbon

Release date: August 24, 2018 [eBook #57756]

Language: English

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Lt. Gibbon del. Wagner & McGuigan's Lith. Phila.

CATHEDRAL OF LIMA.
Pl. 1.

33d Congress, HO. OF REPS. Executive,
1st Session. } { No. 53.

EXPLORATION

OF THE

VALLEY OF THE AMAZON,

MADE UNDER DIRECTION OF

THE NAVY DEPARTMENT,

BY

WM. LEWIS HERNDON AND LARDNER GIBBON,
LIEUTENANTS UNITED STATES NAVY.

PART I.
BY LIEUT. HERNDON.

WASHINGTON:
ROBERT ARMSTRONG, PUBLIC PRINTER

1854.

LETTER OF THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY,

COMMUNICATING

A REPORT OF AN EXPLORATION OF THE VALLEY OF THE AMAZON AND ITS

TRIBUTARIES, MADE BY LIEUT. HERNDON, IN CONNECTION WITH LIEUT. GIBBON.

January 6, 1854.—Resolved, That there be printed, for the use of the members of
the House, ten thousand extra copies of the report of the Secretary of the Navy
communicating the reports of the exploration of the river Amazon and its tributaries,
made by Lieutenants Herndon and Gibbon, with the accompanying maps and plates.
April 13, 1854.—Resolved, That there be printed twenty thousand additional
copies of the reports of the surveys and explorations of the river Amazon, with the
plates and maps accompanying, by Lieutenants Herndon and Gibbon—two hundred
and fifty copies for distribution by Lieutenant Herndon, and two hundred and fifty
copies by Lieutenant Gibbon, and the remainder for the use of the members of the
House.

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of the Navy,
accompanied by the first part of Lieut. Herndon's Report of the Exploration
of the Valley of the Amazon and its tributaries, made by him, in connexion
with Lieut. Lardner Gibbon, under instructions from the Navy Department.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
Washington, February 9, 1853.

Navy Department, February 7, 1853.
To the President.

Sir: In compliance with the notice given in the annual report of this
department to the President, and communicated to Congress at the opening
of its present session, I have the honor herewith to submit the first part of
the Report of Lieut. Herndon, of the Exploration of the Valley of the
Amazon and its tributaries, made by him, in connection with Lieut. Lardner
Gibbon, under instructions from this department, dated the 15th of
February, 1851.
I am happy to be able to inform you that Lieut. Gibbon reached Pará on
his homeward journey some weeks ago, and may very soon be expected to
arrive in the United States. When he returns, Lieut. Herndon will have all
the materials necessary to complete his report, and will devote himself to
that labor with the same assiduity which has characterized his present work.
I would respectfully beg leave to suggest that, in submitting this report
to the House of Representatives, it be accompanied with a request to that
body, if it should think proper to direct the printing of this valuable
document, that the order for that purpose may include all the remaining
portions of the report which may hereafter be furnished; and that the order
for printing shall include a suitable direction for the engraving and
publication of the maps, charts, and sketches, which will be furnished as
necessary illustrations of the subjects treated of in the report.
I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, your obedient
servant,
JOHN P. KENNEDY.

Washington City, January 26, 1853.
To the Hon. John P. Kennedy,
Secretary of the Navy.

Sir: I have the honor to submit part first of the Report of an Exploration
of the Valley of the Amazon, made by me, with the assistance of Lieut.

Lardner Gibbon, under instructions of the Navy Department, bearing date
February 15, 1851.
The desire expressed by the department for an early report of my
exploration of the Amazon, and the general interest manifested in the public
mind with regard to the same, have induced me to lay before you at once as
full an account of our proceedings as can be made before the return of my
companion.
The general map which accompanies the report is based upon maps
published by the Society for the diffusion of Useful Knowledge, but
corrected and improved according to my own personal observations, and on
information obtained by me whilst in that country.
The final report of the expedition will be submitted as soon after Lieut.
Gibbon's return as practicable. I am in daily expectation of intelligence
from him. At the latest accounts (26th of July, 1852) he was at Trinidad de
Moxos, on the Mamoré, in the republic of Bolivia, making his preparations
for the descent of the Madeira.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

WM. LEWIS HERNDON,
Lieut. U. S. Navy.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
Page.
United States ship Vandalia—Valparaiso—Santiago— 1
Vicente Pazos—Preparatory orders—Lima—Means of
information—Conquests of the Incas in the Montaña—
First exploration of the Spaniards—Madame Godin.

CHAPTER II.
INTRODUCTORY.
Orders—Investigation of routes—Lake Rogoaguado—River 20
Beni—Chanchamayo—Cuzco route—River Madre-de-
Dios—Gold mines of Carabaya—Route through the cities
of Truxillo, Caxamarca, Chachapoyas, Moyobamba, &c.
—Preparations for the journey—The start.

CHAPTER III.
Passports—Means of defence—The road—Pacayar— 39
Chaclacayo—Narrow pass—Yanacoto—Bridge—
Cocachacra—Tribute money—Dividing line between the
coast and the Sierra—Moyoc—Varieties of the potato—

Matucana—San Mateo—Mines of Párac—Narrow valley
—Summit of the Cordillera—Reflections.

CHAPTER IV.
Mines of Morococha—A Yankee's house—Mountain of 61
Puypuy—Splendid view—Pachachaca—Lava stream—
Chain bridge at Oroya—Descent into the valley of Tarma
—Tarma—American physician—Customs—Dress—
Religious observances—Muleteers and mules—General
Otero—Farming in the Sierra—Road to Chanchamayo—
Perils of travel—Gold mines of Matichacra—View of the
Montaña—Fort San Ramon—Indians of Chanchamayo—
Cultivation.

CHAPTER V.
Division of the party—Acobaraba—Plain of Junin—Lake 90
Chinchaycocha—Preservation of potatoes—Cerro Pasco
—Drainage of the mines—Boliches.

CHAPTER VI.
Departure from Cerro Pasco—Mint at Quinua—San Rafael 111
—Ambo—Quicacan—Huanuco—Cerro de Carpis—
Chinchao valley—Huallaga river.

CHAPTER VII.
Itinerary—Tingo Maria—Vampires—Blow guns—Canoe 132
navigation—Shooting monkeys—Tocache—Sion—Salt
hills of Pilluana.

CHAPTER VIII.
Tarapoto—Pongo of Chasuta—Chasuta—Yurimaguas—Sta. 156
Cruz—Antonio, the Paraguá—Laguna—Mouth of the
Huallaga.

CHAPTER IX.
Entrance into the Amazon—Nauta—Upper and lower 176
missions of Mainas—Conversions of the Ucayali—Trade
in Sarsaparilla—Advantages of trade with this country.

CHAPTER X.
Nauta—River Ucayali—Sarayacu—The missionaries—The 190
Indians of the Ucayali.

CHAPTER XI.
Upper Ucayali—M. Castelnau—Length of navigation—Loss 208
of the priest—Departure from Sarayacu—Omaguas—
Iquitos—Mouth of the Napo—Pebas—San José de los
Yaguas—State of Indians of Peru.

CHAPTER XII.
Chochiquinas—Caballo Cocha—Alligators—Indian 229
incantations—Loreto—Tabatinga—River Yavari—San
Paulo—River Iça—Tunantins—Making Manteiga—River
Jutay—Fonteboa—River Juruá—River Japurá.

CHAPTER XIII.
Egas—Trade—Lake Coari—Mouth of the Rio Negro— 250
Barra—Trade—Productions.

CHAPTER XIV.
Town of Barra—Foreign residents—Population—Rio Negro 269
—Connexion with the Oronoco—River Purus—Rio
Branco—Vegetable productions of the Amazon country.

CHAPTER XV.

Departure from Barra—River Madeira—Serpa—Villa Nova 285
—Maués—River Trombetas—Cocoa plantations—Obidos
—Santarem.

CHAPTER XVI.
Santarem—Population—Trade—River Tapajos—Cuiaba— 299
Diamond region—Account of the Indians of the Tapajos.

CHAPTER XVII.
Departure from Santarem—Monte Alegre—Prainha— 319
Almeirim—Gurupá—River Xingu—Great estuary of the
Amazon—India-rubber country—Method of collecting
and preparing the India-rubber—Bay of Limoeiro—
Arrival at Pará.

CHAPTER XVIII.
Pará. 334

CHAPTER XIX.
Resumé. 352

APPENDIX.
Notes—Table of approximate heights and distances from 369
Callao to the Atlantic—Meteorological journal.
Addendum 397

LIST OF PLATES.
Page.
Plate 1.—Cathedral of Lima, (to face title page.)
Plate 2.—Yanacoto. 44
Plate 3.—Hacienda de Moyoc. 60
Plate 4.—San Mateo. 60
Plate 5.—Summit of the Cordillera. 60
Plate 6.—Mountain of Puypuy. 60
Plate 7.—Oroya. 76
Plate 8.—Tarma. 76
Plate 9.—Fort San Ramon. 92
Plate 10.—Cerro Pasco. 108
Plate 11.—Miner. 108
Plate 12.—Ore carrier. 108
Plate 13.—Givaro. 172
Plate 14.—Givara. 188
Plate 15.—Zaparo, (Hunter). 204
Plate 16.—Zaparo, (Fisher). 204

CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
U. S. ship Vandalia—Valparaiso—Santiago—Vicente Pazos—
Preparatory orders—Lima—Means of information—Conquests of the Incas
in the Montaña—First explorations of the Spaniards—Madame Godin.
Attached to the U. S. ship Vandalia, of the Pacific squadron, lying at
anchor in the harbor of Valparaiso, in the month of August, 1850, I received
a communication from the Superintendent of the National Observatory,
informing me that orders to explore the Valley of the Amazon would be sent
me by the next mail steamer.
The ship was then bound for the Sandwich Islands, but Captain
Gardner, with that kindness which ever characterized his intercourse with
his officers, did not hesitate to detach me from the ship, and to give me
permission to await, at Valparaiso, the arrival of my instructions.
The officers expressed much flattering regret at my leaving the ship,
and loaded me with little personal mementos—things that might be of use
to me on my proposed journey.
On the 6th of August I unexpectedly saw, from the windows of the
club-house at Valparaiso, the topsails of the ship mounting to the
mastheads; I saw that she must needs make a stretch in-shore to clear the
rocks that lie off the western point of the bay; and desirous to say farewell
to my friends, I leaped into a shore-boat, and shoved off, with the hope of
reaching her before she went about. The oarsmen, influenced by the
promise of a pair of dollars if they put me on board, bent to their oars with a

will, and the light whale-boat seemed to fly; but just as I was clearing the
outer line of merchantmen, the ship came sweeping up to the wind; and as
she gracefully fell off on the other tack, her royals and courses were set; and
bending to the steady northeast breeze, she darted out of the harbor at a rate
that set pursuit at defiance. God's blessing go with the beautiful ship, and
the gallant gentlemen, her officers, who had been to me as brothers.
Owing to the death of President Taylor, and the consequent change in
the Cabinet, my orders were delayed, and I spent several weeks in
Valparaiso, and Santiago, the capital of Chili. This time, however, was not
thrown away: my residence in these cities improved my knowledge of the
Spanish language, and gave me information regarding the Bolivian
tributaries of the Amazon which I probably could have got nowhere else.
The commander of the English naval forces in the Pacific, Admiral
Hornby, was much interested in my mission, and searched for me, through
his valuable library, for all that had been written upon the subject. I am
indebted to him, and the officers of his fleet, for much personal kindness.
I must also return thanks to Messrs. George Hobson, H. V. Ward,
George Cood, and Commodore Simpson, of the Chilian navy, for the loan
of books and maps which assisted me in forming my plans, and deciding as
to route.
Mr. Bridges, an English florist and botanist, who had descended the
Chaparé and Mamoré, tributaries of the Madeira, as far as the mouth of the
Beni, and who sent the first specimen of the Victoria Regia to England from
this country, gave me such a description of it as enabled me to point out to
Mr. Gibbon the most practicable route to the headwaters of those streams.
I also had long conversations with General Ballivian, ex-President of
Bolivia, then an exile to Chili. He lent me a map of Bolivia, executed under
his orders whilst President of that republic, of which I took a tracing, but
which I had afterwards the misfortune to lose.
At Santiago I received information regarding the river Beni, and the
interior of Bolivia and Peru, from a French gentleman named Pissis, an
engineer in the employment of the Chilian government; and also from a

gentleman named Smith, an employé in the large mercantile house of Huth,
Gruning & Co., who had travelled much in those countries.
To Don José Pardo, chargé d'affaires of Peru to the republic of Chili, I
owe much for information and advice. He gave me copies of letters from
Vicente Pazos, a citizen of Buenos Ayres, who has always manifested much
interest in the improvement and advancement of South America, and who,
in 1819, published a series of papers on the affairs of that country, directed
to Henry Clay. These letters I deem of sufficient interest to give a
translation of.
Buenos Ayres, July 14, 1850.
To Don Jose Pardo,
Minister of the Peruvian Republic, near the Government of Chili.

Sir: In a journal of this capital of the 2d inst., I have seen a transcript of
a letter from you to the editor of a periodical of this place, in which you say,
under date of the 25th of April last, that you have received special notice of
the discovery, in the province of "Carabaya," of the ore and washings of
gold. In consequence, the government of Peru invites all who desire it to
take advantage, and make use of the natural productions of these regions,
where emigrants of all nations shall have all the political and religious
guarantees necessary in the exercise of their industry.
This announcement fills me with pleasure, because it is an evidence of
the elevation of ideas which obtains in the government, and which will
carry this part of Upper Peru to the height of prosperity to which it is called
by its topographical and territorial position; and particularly because it has
in its midst navigable rivers which connect it with the Atlantic. I allude to
the navigation of the Amazon.
I have been now engaged some ten years in the thought and study of
the political, social, and commercial relations concerning this matter, as is
shown in my many publications which have circulated in Europe and
America. These show the pains I have taken with the government of Louis
Philippe, King of France, in order to open a new line of commercial
communication between Cayenne and French Guyana and the republics of
Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

But I have always thought that our America, by the intelligence of its
people, was to make a great social and commercial change; and I have
always thought that this change would operate by means of its gigantic and
navigable rivers. This conception is corroborated by the announcement of
the discovery of the gold regions of Carabaya. Its upper parts, which
belong to the Andes, feed sheep of the most exquisite wool; and as it goes
on descending, vegetation springs up with a fecundity and ease unknown in
the Old World. The land is cut up with mountain torrents, whose banks
contain gold, and which unite to form the river "Purus," one of the greatest
tributaries of the Amazon.
Of this river, our celebrated botanist, D. Tadeo Há-enke, in a special
report, says: "Purus, or Cachivara, is a river of the first order. It arises in the
cordillera of Vilcanota, a little to the east of the mountains of Carabaya,
from which descend many considerable streams, rich in gold." To the
testimony of this wise naturalist I add that of Condamine, and of the
English naval officer, Smyth, and lastly the works of the Count of
Castelnau, who descended the Amazon from Cuzco.
The scientific and hydrographical works of these travellers persuade
me that the "Purus" will be the best channel of interior commerce, and will
put the centre of Peru in communication with the industrial, commercial,
and manufacturing nations of Europe and North America.
For this effect it is proper not only to speak of and familiarize people
with this easy line of communication, but also to stimulate foreign
emigration, and the civilization of the inhabitants of our forests—a people
of a gentle disposition and an active intelligence.
The first sight I had of steam in the United States of America, in 1818,
gave me the idea that our rivers were equally susceptible with theirs of this
motive power, so that, in a work which I published in New York in 1819, I
said that the day would arrive in which vessels moved by steam would
navigate upon the gold-bearing rivers of Peru, as upon the fabulous
Pactolus. This prediction is not now to me a fable, and, therefore, my
conviction is unshaken, as will be seen by a letter which I have written to
the President of the republic, Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. The note to

which I refer in it is very long, which prevents me from copying it, but
some day it will be published.
In the mean time, I congratulate you, and your government, that in its
administration should have taken place a measure so necessary for the
common good.
Permit me, also, to offer you my respects, and to subscribe myself,

Your obedient servant,
VICENTE PAZOS.

Buenos Ayres, February 2, 1850.
To His Excellency Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte,
President of the French Republic.

Prince: In bringing to the notice of your excellency the adjoined copy,
which is a duplicate of my note, laid before the executive power which
governed republican France in June, 1848, my object is to call the attention
of your excellency to the same project which Napoleon, your august uncle,
conceived for the aggrandizement of the most important colony which
France possesses in the New World—French Guyana. Before the
application of steam to navigation, this tutelar genius of France
comprehended that Cayenne would some day be the key to a vast
commerce in all those regions, where might be created great empires.
This sublime conception infused into my spirit the idea that the time
had arrived to realize the views of the Emperor; and, with this object, I
addressed myself to the French government, in April, 1840, when the
Chambers decreed trans-atlantic steam navigation, to the end that there
should also be established a river line between French Guyana and the
republics of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. All the ministers who
governed until February, 1848, including also the monarchy, approved my
project, and took the preliminary measures necessary for beginning a
system of navigation without equal since the days of Columbus and Vasco
de Gama.

Officers of the French navy, stimulated by the example of those of the
English, who had preceded them in the exploration of the Amazon, made
also important hydrographical observations of the course of that river,
which show that its principal outlet is along the shores of French Guyana,
whence France may command the fluvial navigation and the commerce of
those vast regions.
I thought that this advantage, which a glance at the geographical
position of French Guyana shows, would work effectually in the judgment
of M. Arago, then Minister of Marine and member of the provincial
government of the French republic.
The reply of this wise astronomer, of April 14th, to my note of the 22d
April preceding, smothered, not only my hopes, but closed the doors to the
prosperity of the French colonies, and to that of those nations whose
streams form the Amazon, and whose people desire with eagerness this new
and short way of communication between Europe and meridional America.
The grandeur of this plan, which is found set forth in my notes,
memorials, and writings, which may be found in the different ministerial
bureaus of France, together with the opinions of many French writers and
travellers, among whom the most distinguished is M. Castelnau,
demonstrate the utility of encouraging the growth of Guyana.
To all the information furnished by these ought to be added the verbal
communications which I have received from the commander of the
"Astrolabe," M. Montravel, who is now on the station of the river Plate,
under the order of Vice Admiral Le Predour. M. De Montravel, in the
corvette Boulognaise, is the officer who made the exploration of the
Amazon, and whose most valuable information, which exists in the
department of the French marine, corroborates all that I have expressed to
the French government for these ten years, and now animates me to address
myself to your excellency directly, renewing the same project which I had
the honor of presenting to the French nation, &c.
VICENTE PAZOS.

The city of Santiago is situated in a lovely plain at the very foot of the
cordillera. The snowy summits of this chain, painted in bold relief against

the hard, gray sky of the morning, have a very singular and beautiful
appearance; they seem cut from white marble, and within reach of the hand.
It is almost impossible to give an idea of the transparency of the atmosphere
at this place. I was never tired of watching, from Lieut. Gillis's little
observatory, the stars rising over these mountains. There was nothing of the
faint and indistinct glimmer which stars generally present when rising from
the ocean; but they burst forth in an instant of time, in the full blaze of their
beauty, and seemed as if just created. Gillis told me that his small telescope,
of American manufacture, of 6½ inches of aperture, was there fully equal in
power to the German glass at Washington of 9 inches.
Chili, in arts and civilization, is far ahead of any other South American
republic. There are many young men of native families, educated in the best
manner in Europe, who would be ornaments to any society; and the
manners of the ladies are marked by a simple, open, engaging cordiality,
that seems peculiar to Creoles. I do not know a more pleasant place of
residence than Santiago, except for two causes: one, earthquakes, to the
terrors of which no familiarity breeds indifference; the other, the readiness
of the people to appeal to the bayonet for the settlement of political
differences, or in the struggle for political power. These two causes shook
the city and society to their foundations a few months after I left it.
On the 20th of January, 1851, I received the following instructions
from the Hon. William A. Graham, Secretary of the Navy:
Navy Department, October 30, 1850.

Sir: Proceed to Lima, for the purpose of collecting from the
monasteries, and other authentic sources that may be accessible to you,
information concerning the headwaters of the Amazon and the regions of
country drained by its Peruvian tributaries. You will then visit the
monasteries of Bolivia for a like purpose, touching the Bolivian tributaries
of that river, should it in your judgment be desirable.
The object of the department in assigning you to this service is with the
view of directing you to explore the Valley of the Amazon, should the
consent of Brazil therefor be obtained; and the information you are directed
to obtain is such as would tend to assist and guide you in such exploration,
should you be directed to make it.

As this service to which you are now assigned may probably involve
the necessity of the occasional expenditure of a small amount on
government account, you are furnished with a bill of credit for one thousand
dollars, for which you will account to the proper office.
Also, enclosed you will find a letter of introduction to Messrs. Clay and
McClung, chargés d'affaires near the governments of Peru and Bolivia.

Respectfully, &c.,
WILLIAM A. GRAHAM.

As I had obtained from my Santiago and Valparaiso friends—
particularly from General Ballivian—all the information that I would be
likely to get in the cities of Bolivia, I determined to proceed to Lima, and
accordingly embarked on board the mail boat of the 26th.
My residence in Valparaiso had made new friends and established new
ties, that I found painful to break; but this is the lot of the navy officer:
separated from his family for years, he is brought into the closest and most
intimate association with his messmates, and forms ties which are made but
to be broken, generally by many years of separation. Taken from these, he is
thrown among strangers, and becomes dependent upon their kindness and
hospitality for the only enjoyments that make his life endurable. Receiving
these, his heart yearns towards the donors; and my Valparaiso friends will
readily believe that I was sad enough when compelled to leave them.
I arrived in Lima on the 6th of February. This city has changed greatly
since I was here, twenty years ago. Though we had bull-fights on the
accession of the new President, General Echenique, (which accession,
strange to say, took place without popular tumult, except a small outbreak at
Arequipa, resulting in the immediate imprisonment at Lima of the opposing
candidate, General Vivanco,) yet the noble amphitheatre was not crowded
as in old times with the élite and fashion of Lima, but seemed abandoned to
the vulgar. The ladies have given up their peculiar and most graceful
national costume, the "Saya y Manto," and it is now the mark of a ragged
reputation. They dress in the French style, frequent the opera, and, instead

of the "Yerba de Paraguay," called Matté, of which they used a great
quantity formerly, they now take tea. These are causes for regret, for one
likes to see nationality preserved; but there is one cause for congratulation,
(especially on the part of sea-going men, who have sometimes suffered,) the
railroad between Lima and Callao has broken up the robbers.
But with these matters I have nothing to do. My first business at Lima
was to establish relations with Don Francisco Paula y Vigil, the
accomplished and learned superintendent of the public library. This
gentleman, who is an ecclesiastic and a member of the Senate, has so high a
character for learning and honesty, that, though a partisan politician, and a
member of the opposition to the new government, he preserves (a rare thing
in Peru) the respect and confidence of all. He placed the books of the library
at my disposal, and kindly selected for me those that would be of service.
The sources of information, however, were small and unsatisfactory.
The military expeditions into the country to the eastward of the Andes left
little or no reliable traces of their labors. The records of the explorations of
the Jesuits were out of my reach, in the archives of Quito—at that time the
head of the diocese, and the starting-point of the missions into the interior—
and nearly all that I could get at were some meagre accounts of the
operations of the Franciscans, collected by Father Manuel Sobreviela,
guardian of the missionary college of Ocopa, and published, in 1790, in a
periodical called "Mercurio Peruano," edited by an association styling itself
"Amantes del Pais," or lovers of their country.
Though the information obtained in Lima was not great, I still think
that a slight historical sketch of the attempts to explore the Montaña,[1] of
Peru, made since the conquest of that country by Pizarro, will not be
uninteresting. Before commencing it, however, I desire to express my
acknowledgments to the many gentlemen, both native and foreign, who
have assisted me in my researches with information and advice, particularly
to Don Nicholas Pierola, the Director of the National Museum, whose name
is associated with that of Mariano de Rivero, as "par excellence" the
scientific men of Peru; to the Hon. John Randolph Clay, chargé d'affaires of
the United States; to Dr. Archibald Smith, an eminent physician, and author
of a very clever book called "Peru as it is;" and to the courteous and

hospitable partners of the mercantile house of Alsop & Co., Messrs.
Prevost, Foster & McCall.
Modern books upon the subject—such as Prescott's Peru; Humboldt's
Narrative; Von Tschude's Travels; Smith's "Peru as it is;" Condamine's
Voyage on the Amazon; Prince Adalbert's Travels; the Journals of the
English Lieutenants, Smyth and Maw; "Travels in Maynas" of Don Manuel
Ijurra, who afterwards accompanied me as interpreter to the Indians;
Southey's Brazil, and a Chorographic Essay on the Province of Pará, by a
Brazilian named Baena—were all consulted, and, together with oral
communications from persons who had visited various parts of the Valley of
the Amazon, gave me all the information within my reach, and prepared me
to start upon my journey at least with open eyes.
According to Garcilasso de la Vega, himself a descendant of the Incas,
the attention of the Peruvian government was directed to the country east of
the Andes even before the time of the Spanish conquest. The sixth Inca,
Rocca, sent his son, Yahuar Huaccac, at the head of 15,000 men, with three
generals as companions and advisers, to the conquest of the country to the
northward and eastward of Cuzco, called Antisuyo, inhabited by Indians
called Antis. The young prince added a space of thirty leagues in that
direction to the dominions of his father, but could reach no further on
account of the roughness of the country and the difficulties of the march.
The tenth and great Inca, Yupanqui, sent an expedition of 10,000 men to
pursue the conquests of Yahuar Huaccac. These reached the Montaña, and,
embarking on rafts upon the great river Amarumayo,[2] fought their way
through tribes called Chunchos, till they arrived, with only 1,000 men, into
the territory of tribes called Musus. Finding their numbers now too small for
conquest, they persuaded these Indians that they were friends, and, by their
superior civilization, obtained such an ascendency among them, that the
Musus agreed to send ambassadors to render homage and worship to the
"Child of the Sun," and gave these men of the Inca race their daughters in
marriage, and a place in their tribe.
Years afterwards, during the reign of Huaynal Capac, the Incas and
their descendants desired to return to Cuzco; but in the midst of their
preparations they received intelligence of the downfall of their nation, and

settled finally among the Musus, who adopted many of the laws, customs,
usages, and worship of the Incas.
I have little doubt of the truth of this account, for even at the present
day may be found amongst the savages who dwell about the headwaters of
the Ucayali, the Purus, and in the country between the Purus and Beni,
traces of the warlike character of the mountain race, and that invincible
hatred of the white man which the descendants of the Incas may well be
supposed to feel. This determined hostility and warlike character prevented
me from embarking upon the Chanchamayo to descend the Ucayali, was
the cause why I could not get men to ascend the Ucayali from Sarayacu,
and I have no doubt hindered Mr. Gibbon from penetrating to the eastward
of Cuzco, and seeking in that direction the sources of the Purus.
This character is entirely distinct from that of the Indians of the plains
everywhere in South America, who are, in general, gentle, docile, and
obedient, and who fear the white man with an abject and craven fear.
Love of dominion and power had induced the Indian princes of Peru to
waste their treasures and the lives of their subjects in the subjugation of the
Montaña. A stronger passion was now to urge a stronger people in the same
direction. Stories of great empires, which had obtained the names of Beni,
or Gran Pará, Gran Pairiri, or Paititi, and El Dorado, filled with large and
populous cities, whose streets were paved with gold; of a lake of golden
sand, called Parima; of a gilded king, who, when he rose in the morning,
was smeared with oil, and covered with gold dust blown upon him by his
courtiers through long reeds, and of immense mineral and vegetable
treasures, had for some time filled the ears and occupied the minds of the
avaricious conquerors; and, after the partial settlement of affairs by the
defeat of the Almagro faction at the battle of Salinas, near Cuzco, on the
26th April, 1538, various leaders sought opportunities of obtaining wealth
and distinction by incursions into these unknown lands.
Hernando Pizarro fitted out two expeditions, giving to Pedro de
Candia the command of the first, and to Pedro Anzulo that of the second.
These men, led on by the report of the Indians, who constantly asserted that
the rich countries they sought lay yet farther to the eastward, penetrated, it
is supposed, as far as the Beni; but, overcome by danger, privation, and

suffering, they returned with no results, save marvellous stories of what
they had seen and learned, which inflamed the curiosity and cupidity of
others. These parties were generally accompanied by an ecclesiastic, who
was the historian of the expedition. Some idea may be formed of the
worthlessness of their records by examining a few of the stories related by
them. Here is one:
"Juan Alvarez Maldonado made an expedition from Cuzco in the year
1561. He descended the eastern range of the Andes, and had scarcely
cleared the rough and rocky ground of the slope when his party encountered
two pigmies. They shot the female, and the male died of grief six days
afterwards.
"Following the course of the great river Mano downwards, at the
distance of two hundred leagues they landed upon a beach, and a piquet of
soldiers penetrated into the woods. They found the trees so tall as to exceed
an arrow-shot in height, and so large that six men, with joined hands, could
scarcely circle them. Here they found lying upon the ground a man, five
yards in height, members in proportion, long snout, projecting teeth, vesture
of beautiful leopard skin, short and shrivelled, and, for a walking-stick, a
tree, which he played with as with a cane. On his attempting to rise, they
shot him dead, and returned to the boat to give notice to their companions.
These went to the spot, and found traces of his having been carried off.
Following the track towards a neighboring hill, they heard thence such
shouts and vociferations that they were astounded, and, horror-stricken,
fled." One more:
"Between the years 1639 and 1648, Padre Tomas de Chaves, a
Dominican, entered among the Chunchos, from Cochabamba, in Bolivia.
He took twelve of them to Lima, where they were baptized. He then went
back and lived among them fourteen years, making many expeditions. His
last was in 1654 among the Moxos Indians of the Mamoré. He there cured a
cacique of some infirmity, and the Emperor of the Musus (this is the great
Paititi or gilded King of the Spaniards) sent six hundred armed men to the
cacique of the Moxos, demanding that the reverend father should be sent to
cure his Queen. The Moxos were very unwilling to part with their
physician; but threats of extermination delivered by the ambassadors of the
Emperor induced compliance; and the padre was carried off on the

shoulders of the Indians. After a travel of thirty days, he came to the banks
of a stream so wide that it could scarcely be seen across; (supposed to be
the Beni.) Here the Indian ambassadors had left their canoes; loosing them
from the banks, they launched, went down the stream twelve days, and then
landed. Here the father found a large town inhabited by an incredible
number of savages, all soldiers, guarding this great port of the river, and
entrance into the empire of the Musus. No women were to be seen; they
lived in another town, a league off, and only came in by day to bring food
and drink to the warriors, and returned at night.
"He observed that the river at this place divided into many arms, all
appearing navigable, and formed large islands, on which were great towns.
He travelled hence twenty-seven days, when he arrived at court. The King
came out to meet him, dressed in the finest and most delicate feathers, of
different colors. He treated his guest with great courtesy, had a sumptuous
feast prepared for him, and told him that, hearing of his wonderful powers
as a physician, he had sent for him to cure the Queen of a disease which had
baffled the skill of all his doctors. The good father remarked that he was no
physician, and had not been bred to that art; but observing that the Queen
was beset with devils, ('obsesa,') he exorcised her according to the
formulary, whereby she was thankfully made a Christian. He was eleven
months in the court of the Paititi; at the end of which time, seeing that the
wine and flour for the sacred elements were giving out, and having baptized
an infinite number of infants in 'Articulo Mortis,' he took leave of their
majesties, recommending to the Queen that she hold fast the faith she had
received, abstaining from all offence towards God. He refused from the
King a great present of gold, silver, pearls, and rich feathers; whereat (says
Father Tomas) the King and courtiers wondered greatly."
These are of the number of stories which, inflaming the cupidity of the
Spaniards, led them to brave the perils of the wilderness in search of El
Dorado. They serve to show at this day the little confidence which is to be
placed in the relations of the friars concerning this country; I do not
imagine, however, that they are broad lies. The soldiers of Maldonado
evidently mistook monkeys for pigmies, and some beast of the forest,
probably the tapir, for a giant; and there is doubtless some truth in the
account of Padre Tomas, though one cannot credit the six hundred

ambassadors; the river that could scarcely be seen across; the garrisoned
port; and the gold, silver, and pearls of an alluvial country.
But the defeated followers of Almagro, flying from before the face of
the still victorious Pizarros, did find to the eastward of Cuzco a country
answering, in some degree, to the description of the fabulous El Dorado.
They penetrated into the valleys of Carabaya, and found there washings of
gold of great value. They subjugated the Indians; built the towns of San
Juan del Oro, San Gaban, Sandia, &c.; and sent large quantities of gold to
Spain. On one occasion they sent a mass of gold in the shape of an ox's
head, and of the weight of two hundred pounds, as a present to Charles V.
The Emperor, in acknowledgment, gave the title of "Royal City" to the
town of San Juan del Oro, and ennobled its inhabitants. The Indians,
however, in the course of time, revolted, murdered their oppressors, and
destroyed their towns. Up to the last three years this has been a sealed
country to the white man. I shall have occasion to refer to it again.
While these efforts to penetrate the Montaña to the eastward of Cuzco
were being made, Gonzalo Pizarro fitted out at Quito an expedition
consisting of 350 Spaniards and 4,000 Indians, with large supplies of
provisions and live stock. All who have read the brilliant pages of Prescott
know the history of this expedition: the discovery of cinnamon; the
treachery of Orellana; and the origin of the present name of the great river. I
shall not tread upon such ground; but shall content myself with observing
that, if Pizarro built a brig, or anything that carried a mast, he either
embarked low down upon the Napo, or, what I rather suspect, the Napo was
a much larger stream then than now.
The failure of this expedition, and the almost incredible sufferings of
the party who composed it, could not deter the Spaniards from their search
for El Dorado. In 1560 the Marquis of Cañete, Viceroy of Peru, sent Pedro
de Ursoa with a large company on this mission. This officer marched
northward from Cuzco, and embarked upon the Huallaga. At Lamas, a
small town near that river, he was murdered by his lieutenant, Lope de
Aguirre, who determined to prosecute the enterprise. Aguirre descended the
Huallaga—and the Amazon to its mouth—coasted along the shores of
Guyana and Venezuela, and took possession of the small island of
Marguerita. There raising a party, he landed at Cumaná, with the purpose of

conquering an empire on the main land. He was, however, defeated by some
Spanish troops who had already possession of the country, taken prisoner,
carried to Trinidad and hung.
Aguirre appears to have been a bold and violent man. His letter to
Philip II, published in Humboldt's narrative, is indicative of his character.
He says: "On going out of the river Amazon we landed at an island called
La Margaretta. We there received news from Spain of the great faction of
the Lutherans. This news frightened us exceedingly. We found among us
one of that faction; his name was Monteverde. I had him cut in pieces, as
was just; for, believe me, signor, wherever I am, people live according to
the law.
"In the year 1559 the Marquis of Cañete sent to the Amazon Pedro de
Ursoa, a Navarrese, or rather a Frenchman. We sailed on the largest rivers
of Peru till we came to a gulf of fresh water. We had already gone 300
leagues, when we killed that bad and ambitious captain. We chose a
Cavallero of Seville, Fernando de Guzman, for king; and we swore fealty to
him, as is done to thyself. I was named quartermaster general; and, because
I did not consent to all his will, he wanted to kill me. But I killed this new
king, the captain of his guards, his lieutenant general, his chaplain, a
woman, a knight of the order of Rhodes, two ensigns, and five or six
domestics of the pretended king. I then resolved to punish thy ministers and
thy auditors. I named captains and sergeants. These again wanted to kill me;
but I had them all hanged. In the midst of these adventures we navigated
eleven months, till we reached the mouth of the river. We sailed more than
1,500 leagues. God knows how we got through that great mass of water. I
advise thee, O great king, never to send Spanish fleets into that cursed
river."
The following story, from the "Viagero Universal" of Ulloa, shows his
barbarity in yet more revolting colors. It appears that in all his marches he
carried with him a favorite daughter. When defeated and surrounded, so that
escape was impossible, he called this lady, and addressing her, said: "I had
hoped to make thee a queen. This now is impossible. I cannot bear that you
should live to be pointed at as the child of a traitor and a felon. Thou must
prepare for death at my hands." She requested a few minutes for prayer,
which was granted; but her father, thinking she was too long at her

devotions, fired upon her whilst on her knees. The unfortunate lady
staggered towards him; but taking her by the hand as she approached, the
villain plunged his knife into her bosom, and she sank at his feet,
murmuring "Basta Padre Mio,"—It is enough, my father.
It is not to be expected that information of an exact and scientific
character could be had from the voyages of adventurers like these. They
were mere soldiers, and too much occupied in difficulties of travel, conflicts
with Indians, ambitious designs, and internal dissentions, to make any notes
of the topography or productions of the countries they passed through.
But a task that had baffled the ambition and power of the Incas and
love of gold, backed by the indomitable spirit and courage of the hardy
Spanish soldier, was now to be undertaken by men who were urged on by a
yet more absorbing passion than either of these. I mean missionary zeal—
the love of propagating the faith.
The first missionary stations established in the Montaña were founded
by the Fathers Cuxia and Cueva, of the holy company of the Jesuits, in
1737.
They commenced operations at the village of St. Francis de Borja,
founded by Don Pedro de Vaca, in 1634, when he conquered and settled the
province of Mainas, under the direction of the Viceroy Don Francisco de
Borja, prince of Esquilache. This village is situated on the left bank of the
Marañon, not far below where it breaks its way through the last chain of
hills that obstructs its course, at the Pongo[3] de Manseriché.
In the same year (1637,) according to Ulloa, (whose statements, I think,
are always to be received "cum grano salis") Pedro Texeira, a Portuguese
captain, ascended the Amazon with a fleet mounting forty-seven large guns.
After an eight months' voyage from Pará, he arrived at the port of
Payamino, or Frayamixa, in the province of Quixos, on the river Napo. I am
unable to find out how far up the Napo this is; but Texeira, leaving his fleet
there, went with some of his officers by land to Quito. The Royal Audience
of that city determined to send explorers with him on his return, and the
Jesuit Fathers, Acuña and Artieda, were selected for that purpose, and
directed to report to the King of Spain. Passing through the town of
Archidona, on the headwaters of the Napo, with much suffering they joined

the fleet in the port of Payamino, and after a voyage of ten months, by land
and water, arrived at Pará, whence they sailed for Spain.
The Spanish government, then occupied with the rebellion of Portugal,
could lend no aid to the missionaries, and Father Artieda returned to Quito
in 1643. He appealed to the Royal Audience, and to the college of the
Jesuits at that city, for help to the missions, and the latter institution
furnished him with five or six missionaries. These were well received by
the Indians, and prosecuted their labors with such success, that in the year
1666 they had formed thirteen large and populous settlements in the
country, bordering on the upper Marañon, and near the mouths of the
Pastaza, Ucayali, and Huallaga.
About this time the Franciscans commenced pushing their explorations
and missionary operations from Lima, by the way of Tarma and Jauxa, into
the Montaña, drained by the headwaters of the Ucayali; and here (thanks to
Father Sobreviela) we begin to get a little topographical information; and
the map may now be consulted in elucidation of the text.
In 1673 the Franciscan Father Manuel Biedma penetrated into the
Montaña from Jauxa, by the way of Comas and Andamarca, and
established the missionary station of Santa Cruz de Sonomora, on the river
Pangoa, a tributary of the Ucayali.
In 1681 he opened a mule road from Andamarca to Sonomora, and in
1684 one from Sonomora to the junction of the Pangoa with the Perene. In
1686 he embarked at this place with Antonio Vital, and descended the
Ucayali to near the junction of the Pachitea. Here he established a station
called "San Miguel de los Conibos," and, leaving Vital in charge, he
attempted to ascend the river again, but was killed by the savages. Vital,
hearing of his death, and seeing himself abandoned, without hope of succor,
determined to commit himself to the downward current; and, embarking in
a canoe with six Indians, he soon reached the Jesuit missionary stations near
the mouth of the Ucayali. Directed by these missionaries, he ascended the
Marañon, the Huallaga, and the river Mayo as far as it is navigable. He then
disembarked, travelled by land through Moyobamba and Chachapoyas, and
passing through Lima arrived at Jauxa, whence he had set out with Father
Biedma.

About this time the Franciscans, also penetrating from Tarma by the
valleys of Chanchamayo and Vitoc, established the missions of the Cerro de
la Sal and the Pajonal. The Cerro de la Sal is described as a mountain of
rock and red earth, with veins of salt of thirty yards in breadth, to which the
Indians, for many miles round, were in the habit of repairing for their
supply. The Pajonal is a great grassy plain, enclosed between the river
Pachitea and a great bend of the Ucayali. It is about one hundred and twenty
miles in length from north to south, and ninety from east to west; and I
judge from its name, and some imperfect descriptions of it, that it is a very
fine grazing country.
In the year 1712 Padre Francisco de San José established a college,
"de propaganda fide," at the village of Ocopa, in the Andes, a few leagues
from Jauxa. By his zeal and abilities he induced many European monks, of
the order of St. Francis, to come over and join him in his missionary labors.
These men labored so successfully, that up to 1742 they had established ten
towns in the Pajonal and Cerro de la Sal, and had under their spiritual
direction ten thousand converts. But in this year an Indian of Cuzco, who
had been converted and baptized as Juan Santos, apostatized from the faith;
and, taking upon himself the style and title of Inca, and the name of
Atahuallpa, excited to rebellion all the Indians of the plain, and swept away
every trace of the missionary rule; some seventy or eighty of the priests
perishing in the wreck.
It is quite evident that no distaste for the Catholic religion induced this
rebellion; for in the year 1750, eight years afterward, the Marquis of
Minahermosa, marching into this country for the punishment of the rebels,
found the church at Quimiri, on the river Perene, in perfect order, with
candles burning before the images. He burned the town and church. And six
years after this, when another entrance into this country was made by Gen.
Bustamente, he found the town rebuilt, and a large cross erected in the
middle of the plaza, or public square. I have had occasion myself to notice
the respect and reverence of these Indians for their pastors, and their delight
in participating in the ceremonial, and sense-striking worship of the Roman
Church.
It remains but to speak of the conversions of the Ucayali, in the Pampa
del Sacramento, made by the Franciscans of Ocopa, and which are the only

trophies that now remain of the zeal, patience, and suffering of these
devoted men.
The missions established on the Ucayali by Fathers Biedma and
Caballero, in the years 1673 to 1686, were lost by insurrections of the
Indians in 1704. In 1726, the converted Indians about the head of canoe
navigation on the Huallaga, (the tidings of the gospel were first carried to
these from Huanuco, by Felipe Luyendo, in 1631,) crossing the hills that
border that river on its eastern bank, discovered a wooded plain, which was
named Pampa del Sacramento, from the day of its discovery being the
festival of Corpus Cristi. This was a new field for the missionary; and by
1760, the Fathers of the college at Ocopa had penetrated across this plain to
the Ucayali, and re-established the missions of Manoa, the former spiritual
conquests of Biedma. To get at these missions with less difficulty,
expeditions were made from Huanuco by the way of Pozuzu, Mayro, and
the Pachitea, in the years 1763 to 1767. Several missionaries lost their lives
by the Cashibos Indians of the Pachitea; and in this last year the Indians of
the Ucayali rose upon the missionaries, killed nine of them, and broke up
their settlements. But not for this were they to be deterred. In 1790 Father
Narciso Girbal, with two others, under the direction of Sobreviela, then
guardian of the college at Ocopa, went down the Pachitea and again
established these missions, of which there remain three at this time, called,
respectively, Sarayacu, Tierra Blanca, and Sta. Catalina.
The difficulties of penetrating into these countries, where the path is to
be broken for the first time, can only be conceived by one who has travelled
over the roads already trodden. The broken and precipitous mountain track
—the deep morass—the thick and tangled forest—the danger from Indians,
wild beasts, and reptiles—the scarcity of provisions—the exposure to the
almost appalling rains—and the navigation of the impetuous and rock-
obstructed river, threatening at every moment shipwreck to the frail canoe
—form obstacles that might daunt any heart but that of the gold-hunter or
the missionary.
The most remarkable voyage down the Amazon was made by a woman.
Madame Godin des Odonnais, wife of one of the French commissioners
who was sent with Condamine to measure an arc of the meridian near
Quito, started in 1769, from Rio Bamba, in Ecuador, to join her husband in

Cayenne by the route of the Amazon. She embarked at Canelos, on the
Borbonaza, with a company of eight persons, two, besides herself, being
females. On the third day the Indians who conducted their canoe deserted:
another Indian, whom they found sick in a hovel near the bank, and
employed as pilot, fell from the canoe in endeavoring to pick up the hat of
one of the party, and was drowned.
The canoe, under their own management, soon capsized, and they lost
all their clothing and provisions. Three men of the party now started for
Andoas, on the Pastaza, which they supposed themselves to be within five
or six days of, and never returned. The party left behind, now consisting of
the three females and two brothers of Madame Godin, lashed a few logs
together and attempted again to navigate; but their frail vessel soon went to
pieces by striking against the fallen trees in the river. They then attempted
to journey on foot along the banks of the river, but finding the growth here
too thick and tangled for them to make any way, they struck off into the
forest in hopes of finding a less obstructed path.
They were soon lost: despair took possession of them, and they
perished miserably of hunger and exhaustion. Madame Godin, recovering
from a swoon, which she supposes to have been of many hours' duration,
took the shoes from her dead brother's feet and started to walk, she knew
not whither. Her clothes were soon torn to rags, her body lacerated by her
exertions in forcing her way through the tangled and thorny undergrowth,
and she was kept constantly in a state of deadly terror by the howl of the
tiger and the hiss of the serpent. It is wonderful that she preserved her
reason. Eight terrible days and nights did she wander alone in the howling
wilderness, supported by a few berries and birds' eggs. Providentially (one
cannot say accidentally) she struck the river at a point where two Indians (a
man and a woman) were just launching a canoe. They received her with
kindness, furnished her with food, gave her a coarse cotton petticoat, which
she preserved for years afterwards as a memorial of their goodness, and
carried her in their canoe to Andoas, whence she found a passage down the
river, and finally joined her husband. Her hair turned gray from suffering,
and she could never hear the incidents of her voyage alluded to without a
feeling of horror that bordered on insanity.

CHAPTER II.
INTRODUCTORY.
Orders—Investigation of routes—Lake Rogoaguado—River Beni—
Chanchamayo—Cuzco route—River Madre de Dios—Gold mines of
Carabaya—Route through the cities of Truxillo, Caxamarca, Chachapoyas,
Moyobamba, &c.—Preparations for the journey—The start.
On the 4th of April, 1851, Lieutenant Lardner Gibbon, of the navy,
arrived at Lima, and delivered me orders from the Navy Department, of
which the following is a copy:
Navy Department, February 15, 1851.

Sir: The department is about to confide to you a most important and
delicate duty, which will call for the exercise of all those high qualities and
attainments, on account of which you have been selected.
The government desires to be put in possession of certain information
relating to the valley of the river Amazon, in which term is included the
entire basin, or water-shed, drained by that river and its tributaries.
This desire extends not only to the present condition of that valley, with
regard to the navigability of its streams; to the number and condition, both
industrial and social, of its inhabitants, their trade and products; its climate,
soil, and productions; but also to its capacities for cultivation, and to the
character and extent of its undeveloped commercial resources, whether of
the field, the forest, the river, or the mine.

You will, for the purpose of obtaining such information, proceed across
the Cordillera, and explore the Amazon from its source to its mouth.
Passed Midshipman Lardner Gibbon, a prudent and intelligent officer,
has been selected to accompany you on this service, and is instructed to
report accordingly.
This, together with a few instruments, necessary for such an expedition,
will be delivered to you by him.
Being joined by him, you will commence to make such arrangements
as may be necessary for crossing the Andes and descending the Amazon;
and having completed them, you will then proceed on your journey without
further orders.
The route by which you may reach the Amazon river is left to your
discretion. Whether you will descend the Ucayali, or the Huallaga, or any
other of the Peruvian tributaries, or whether you will cross over into
Bolivia, and, passing through the province of Yongas, embark on the
Mamoré or Ytenes, or whether you will try the Beni or any other route to
the Madeira, and thence to the Amazon, the state of the information which
you have collected, under a former order, will enable you to decide more
judiciously than it is possible for the department, with the meagre state of
its information upon the subject, to do.
It is not desired that you should select any route by which you and your
party would be exposed to savage hostility, beyond your means of defence
and protection.
Neither is it desirable that your party should be so large, on the one
hand, as to excite the suspicion of the people, or give offence to the
authorities, of the country through which you may pass, nor so small, on the
other, as to endanger its success.
You are, therefore, authorized to employ a cook, servant, guide, and
interpreter, and to provide them with such arms as it is customary only for
travellers generally, in that part of the world, to carry for their own
protection. And these arms you will have returned to you at Pará.

The Navy Agent at Lima has been instructed to furnish, upon your
requisition, the necessary articles for the outfit of yourself and party, and to
honor your draft for a sum not exceeding five thousand dollars, to cover
your expenses by the way. As these expenses will be mostly for mules and
arrieros, boats and boats' crews, it is supposed that the sum named will be
much more than sufficient. You will use of it only for the necessary
expenses of the party.
The geographical situation and the commercial position of the Amazon
indicate the future importance, to this country, of the free navigation of that
river.
To enable the government to form a proper estimate as to the degree of
that importance, present and prospective, is the object of your mission.
You will, therefore, avail yourself of the best sources of information
that can be had in answer to any or all of the following questions:
What is the present condition of the silver mines of Peru, and Bolivia—
their yield; how and by whom are they principally wrought?
What is the machinery used, whence obtained, and how transported?
Are mines of this metal, which are not worked, known to exist? What
impulse would the free navigation of the Amazon give to the working of
those mines? What are their capacities; and if the navigation of that river
and its tributaries were open to commerce, what effect would it have in
turning the stream of silver from those mines down these rivers? With what
description of craft can they be navigated respectively?
What inducements are offered by the laws of Peru and Bolivia for
emigrants to settle in the eastern provinces of those two republics, and what
is the amount and character of the population already there? What the
productions? the value of the trade with them—of what articles does it
consist, where manufactured, how introduced, and at what charges upon
prime cost?
What are the staple productions for which the climate and soil of the
valley of the Amazon, in different parts, are adapted? What the state of
tillage; of what class are the laborers; the value of a day's work; the yield

per acre and per hand of the various staples, such as matté, coca and cocoa,
sugar, rice, chinchona, hemp, cotton, India-rubber, coffee, balsams, drugs,
spices, dyes, and ornamental woods; the season for planting and gathering;
the price at the place of production, and at the principal commercial mart;
the mode and means of transportation? with every other item of information
that is calculated to interest a nautical and commercial people.
You will make such geographical and scientific observations by the
way as may be consistent with the main object of the expedition, always
bearing in mind that these are merely incidental, and that no part of the
main objects of the expedition is to be interfered with by them.
It is desirable that you should bring home with you specimens or
samples of the various articles of produce from the Amazon river, together
with such seeds or plants as might probably be introduced into this country
with advantage.
Arriving at Pará, you will embark by the first opportunity for the
United States, and report in person to this department.
Wishing you a pleasant journey and a safe return to your country and
friends,
I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,
WILL. A. GRAHAM.

Lieut. William L. Herndon, U. S. Navy, Peru, or Bolivia.

As the choice of route was thus left to my discretion, this, in connexion
with the best and most efficient mode of carrying out my instructions,
became an object of much consideration with me.
As I had some time previously received intimation of the intention of
the department to issue such orders, whilst in Valparaiso and Santiago I had
sought what information was to be had there, and conversed with many
persons regarding the routes through Bolivia and the navigability of the
Bolivian tributaries of the Amazon. Two interesting routes presented
themselves through this country: one from Cochabamba, by the river
Mamoré, a sketch of which had been given me by Mr. Bridges; and the

other by the Beni, (also a confluent of the Madeira,) which seems nearly a
"terra incognita."
Palacios, an officer of the Bolivian government, who had made some
explorations in the country between the Mamoré and Beni, and who visited
and navigated on the Lake Rogoaguado, (the existence of which has been a
subject of dispute among geographers,) describes the Beni, between its
sources and Los Reyes, (about half the course of the river,) as being much
obstructed by shoals, with very narrow channels, and broken up into rapids,
of which he enumerates twenty-two. He thinks, however, that flat-bottomed
iron boats would overcome many of the difficulties, and navigate an
immense distance up. He says that in some parts of the course of the river
are found veins of silver and gold, salt springs, coal, lime, and (in Tequije)
diamonds. I think that his description of the Lake Rogoaguado would be a
valuable contribution to geography; for though it is evident that his account
is not exact, or even correct, yet it settles the point that there is such a lake,
and that it does not give rise to many of the large rivers that empty into the
Amazon, as was long supposed, and as is so represented in many maps. I
give a translation:
"The supreme government, being desirous of ascertaining if the great
Lake Rogoaguado had communication with the Beni or proceeded from it,
directed me to explore it for the purpose of facilitating communication
between that river and the Mamoré. For this purpose I directed the
construction of a boat and commenced my journey. I set out from the town
of Exaltacion, (a village on the Mamoré, some distance above its junction
with the Madeira,) the nearest point, and directed my course W. N. W. 15
miles, to the estate (estancia) of Santa Cruz, passing (a mile and a half from
this point) the river Iruyani, which runs to the N. E., and appears navigable.
Its sources are unknown; but it is supposed that it rises in some swamps
situated in the flat country about Reyes, or that it runs from the Beni. At this
estate of Santa Cruz there is a somewhat flat hill of 300 yards in height, and
composed of white 'soroché,' the generator (criadero) of gold. It is
constantly covered with grass and trees, among which are found those
producing the India-rubber.
"Hence I directed my march W. ¼ N., to the estate denominated San
Carlos, which is distant twenty-four miles from the first, and is situated

among morasses, with some eminences, the good pastures of which
maintain large flocks of cattle. The course from here was N. W., and at the
distance of nine miles I encountered the Lake Ibachuna, or, of the winds,
which is twelve miles broad and twenty-four long from north to south, and
whose outlet runs among swamps into Lake Rogoaguado, known likewise
by the name of Domú, on whose banks yet exist traces of the ancient tribe
of the Cayubabos, who now form the population of the town of Exaltacion.
"Not finding the boat which I had ordered finished, I embarked in a
small canoe, and directed my course towards two islands in the lake, about
three miles from the shore. These are elevated a little above the surface of
the lake, which has not more than a fathom (braza, 66 inches) of depth in
this part, and are covered with an impenetrable thicket. On the following
day I launched the boat; it was 33 feet (12 varas) long, 3⅔ feet wide, and
2¾ feet deep. It rocked much, and I directed two small canoes to be lashed,
one on each side, to serve as counterpoises.
"I weighed from my port with a course N. W. ¼ N. At the distance of
fifteen miles I encountered a stream which served as an outlet, and was
connected with another small lake, called Yapacha, towards the N. E. I
changed the course, coasting along W. N. W. for nine miles, continuing on
other nine S. W. ¼ S.; thence I changed to S. twenty-four miles; to S. W.
four and a half; to S. ¼ E. thirteen and a half. So that I sailed upon a bow-
line" (much he knew about a bow-line) "with a depth of 2½ fathoms,
(brazadas,) running six miles the hour. (!!)
"At the capes, or prominent points, I landed, and observed that the belt
of woods surrounding the lake was narrow; and that outside of this the
pasturages were so great that they formed a horizon, or could not be seen
across. On one occasion I set fire to them, and saw towards the N. W. the
answering smoke of the fires of the Chacobos savages. The country of this
people was afterwards explored. The tribe was found to consist of three
hundred souls; and among them were people white and ruddy.
"I continued on E. ¼ N., and having navigated twelve miles, the north
wind came on so strong, and raised such a sea, that I was in danger of
shipwreck. I therefore landed, and remained twenty-four hours, employing

the time in examining the mouth of the rivulet called Ibachuna, where there
were large morasses.
"I travelled the next day with oars against the wind, bailing the water
from the boat continually. The course was N. N. E.; and eighteen miles
brought me to the point whence I originally sailed.
"The lake is of good and clear water. It has a bottom of oxide of iron,
with 2½ fathoms (brazadas) of water. There are many fish and rays,
crocodiles and porpoises.
"In the woods there are almonds of various kinds and superior quality.
Towards the east there is another small lake called Puaja, whose waters
(united with those of Rogoaguado and Yapacha) form the river Yatachico,
or Black river, which is a confluent of the Mamoré. I presume the Yata
Grande is only an arm of the Beni from the clearness of its waters, from the
declivity of the land towards the Mamoré, and because its sources are not
found in the Steppes, (Llanos) there only arising from these the Black river
of the Lake Rogagua of Reyes, which is a confluent of the Beni.
"The navigation of the Yata Grande is a matter of interest; and I would
have attempted it when I descended the Mamoré had I had at my disposal
an armed party, which is absolutely necessary on account of the multitude
of savages which dwell upon its banks; nevertheless, I did ascend to its first
rapids, where there is an abundance of pitch. The Iruyani should be
explored for the same reasons as the Yata Grande."
It was suggested by Mr. Pissis that I should take the route of the Beni
on account of the honor of discovery, and the addition I should make to
geographical knowledge; and General Ballivian, ex-President of Bolivia,
who was then in Valparaiso forming plans for revolution in that country,
which he afterwards endeavored to execute, but without success, strongly
urged me to take one of the Bolivian rivers; but an unanswerable objection
to this in my mind was, that such a route would bring me into the Amazon
very low down, and make the necessity of ascending that river to its
sources; a work which would occupy years in its execution, and probably
break down a much stronger man than I am.

Upon my arrival in Lima, I immediately set to work to investigate
routes. The best informed people of Peru are wide awake to the importance
of opening an inland communication between their territories to the east of
the Andes and the Atlantic, and many attempts have been made to secure
the aid of government in the opening of such a communication. From time
immemorial a jealousy has existed upon this subject between the people
inhabiting points on the three most feasible routes; that is, that of the valley
of Huanuco, that of Chanchamayo, and that of Paucartambo, to the
eastward of Cuzco. This jealousy originated in the fact that the valley of
Huanuco, the first settled, at one time supplied all the coca that was used in
Peru. The people of that valley saw in the opening of the Montaña of
Chanchamayo a rival interest that would decrease their gains, and at one
time they had such interest at Court as to get an order dismantling the fort
that had been built in Chanchamayo, and breaking up the roads. The Tarma
people never forgave this, and in 1808 Urrutia, the Intendente of that
province, addressed a pamphlet to Abascal, the Viceroy, setting forth the
advantages of the Chanchamayo, and depreciating the Mayro or Huanuco
route to the Montaña.
"Surely, surely," says he, (and I entirely agree with him,) "nothing but
the especial concitation of the devil (thus interfering with the conversion of
the heathen) could have induced the government to so suicidal a step as to
break up so thriving a colony as that at Chanchamayo." He says that he can
scarcely refrain from tears at thinking to what it would have grown in the
twenty-five years that have been lost between then and now. He writes with
earnestness; and probably would have succeeded in obtaining the aid of the
government, but that the cloud of the revolution was then above the
horizon, and Viceroy and Intendente soon had other matters to think of.
In 1827 General La Mar again ordered the opening of the
Chanchamayo country. The direction of the work was given to my
acquaintance and very good friend General Otero, then prefect of the
department. He pushed the matter of opening the roads with success for
some time; but the roughness of the country, the difficulty of obtaining
supplies, and the steady hostility of the Indians, interposed so many
obstacles, that the work languished and was finally abandoned; the Indians
taking possession of the few plantations that had been made.

In 1847, however, the people of Tarma resolved to take advantage of so
fine a country so near them. They republished the pamphlet of Urrutia;
made an appeal to the government, and themselves broke into the country
under the lead of Colonel Pablo Salaverry. They drove the Indians over the
rivers of Chanchamayo and Tulumayo; and Don Ramon Castilla, the
President, (ever alive to the interests of his country,) sent a company of
eighty soldiers, under a captain in the navy named Noel, with engineers,
artificers, tools and supplies, and constructed the little stockade fort of San
Ramon, at the junction of these rivers. Under the protection of this fort the
Tarma people have begun to clear and cultivate, and the former desert is
now beautiful with the waving cane, the yellow blossom of the cotton, and
the red berry of the coffee.
Juan Centeno, deputy in Congress from Cuzco, in strong and earnest
terms advocated the propriety of taking the Cuzco route, telling me that ten
thousand dollars, appropriated by the government for the survey of the river
Amarumayo, now lay in the treasury, waiting the proper time and man to
take it up; and that he had no doubt but that I might organize a surveying
party and employ this money for that purpose. It was a tempting
proposition, but I feared the proverbially dilatory action of the Peruvian
government; and what I had seen in the journals of Smyth and Castelnau
regarding the efficiency of the co-operation of Peruvian officials, revived
school-boy recollections and brought to my mind Virgil's
"Non tali auxilio; nec defensoribus istis."

This route had, moreover, the same objections as that by the Bolivian
tributaries; that is, that it would bring me into the Amazon too low down. It
is, however, a route of great importance, and well worth investigation.
Señor Centeno placed in my hands a pamphlet ("El brillante porvenir de
Cuzco") written by the confessor of his family, an Italian Franciscan, Father
Julian Bobo de Revello, in which the advantages of this route are strongly
and ably argued; and which argument induced the above-mentioned
appropriation by the Peruvian government. The Father declares that he
himself, in visiting the valleys of Paucartambo, in company with Don José
Miguel Medina, prefect of the province, saw from the heights of Acobamba
an interminable horizon of woods towards the N. E.; and in the midst of this
immense plain, the winding course of the great navigable river "Madre de

Dios." He labors to prove that this Madre de Dios is the same river which,
under the name of Purus, enters the Amazon a few days' journey above the
Barra do Rio Negro.
There is no doubt that there is a great unknown river in these parts.
Every expedition made into this country brought back accounts of it, and
represented it under various names—such as Amarumayu; Tono; Mano;
Inambiri; Guariguari; and Madre de Dios, according to the nomenclature of
the various tribes that live upon its banks—as great and containing much
water—(Grande y Caudaloso.) It is impossible to say whether this river
turns to the N. W. and joins the Ucayali, flows straight N. E., and, as either
the Yavari, the Jutay, the Jurua, the Teffe, the Coari, or the Purus, empties
into the Amazon; or, flowing east, is tributary to the Beni. It is, of course,
likewise impossible to say whether or not it is free from obstructions to
navigation; but it is reasonable to suppose, from the fact that the country
through which it flows (supposing it to take the general direction of the
rivers there and run N. E.) is very far from the Andes on one side, and the
Cordillera Geral of Brazil, which form the obstructions to the Madeira, on
the other, that it is free from impediments for an immense distance up. This
route, however, takes its importance, in a commercial point of view, from
the following facts:
It will be recollected that I stated, in the preceding chapter, that the
defeated followers of Almagro, hiding themselves in the valleys and dens of
the broken country to the eastward of Cuzco, called Carabaya, discovered,
in the small streams that dashed down from the neighboring Cordillera,
washings of gold of great value—that they built villages, and sent immense
treasures to Spain.
In the month of June, 1849, two brothers named Poblete, seeking
Peruvian bark in the valleys of Carabaya, discovered grains or pits (pepitas)
of gold in the "Gulch" of Challuhuma. They were soon joined by other
hunters of bark; the news spread in the province; companies were formed,
and petitions made to the board of miners for titles; quarrels arose about
priority of discovery and rights, and the paths were broken up, and bridges
and rafts for crossing the rivers destroyed, so that, up to the time of my
information, little had been done in gathering the gold.

It appears from an official letter of Pablo Pimentel, sub-prefect of the
province of Carabaya, in answer to certain questions propounded to him by
the Treasury Department, that the mining district is situated in the valleys to
the N. and E. of Crucero, the capital of the province, and is reached from
that place by the following routes and distances. (It will be as well to
premise that Crucero is situated in about latitude 14° south, and longitude
74° west from Greenwich; and that to reach it by the nearest route from the
Pacific coast, one should land at Islay; and travelling on horseback through
the cities of Arequipa and Puno, he will arrive at Crucero, by easy stages of
fifteen miles a day, in about twenty days.) From Crucero the route, running
to the eastward, and crossing the Cordillera at probably its highest and most
difficult pass, conducts the traveller to the small and abandoned village of
Phara, forty-two miles from Crucero.
Here he puts foot to ground, and travels seventy-two miles (four days'
journey) to the banks of the great river Guariguari; although his provisions
and implements may be carried to this point on mules or asses. He crosses
this river on a perilous swinging bridge, called Oroya, and makes his way
thirty miles further towards the north without any broken track, save an
occasional one made by the bark hunters.
This brings him to Challuhuma.
The valley, or gulch, is from thirty to thirty-six miles long from the top
of the mountains, whence descend the three small torrents which form the
auriferous stream called Challuhuma, to its entrance into the Guariguari; but
it is calculated that only about a fifth part of this can be worked, as the other
four parts are hemmed in by precipitous rocks on each side; and "to turn the
course of the river at these parts, so as to get at its bed, would be about as
easy a task as to remove the Andes."
Pimentel supposes that from the time of the discovery, in June, to the
date of his letter, in November, about one hundred thousand dollars had
been collected; but that the best parts had been worked, and such success
was no longer to be looked for. He says, moreover, that the difficulty of
obtaining provisions and supplies is very great, from the small number of
persons engaged in agriculture, the general laziness of the people, and the
difficulty of transportation.

It is quite evident that Pimentel is disposed to throw difficulties in the
way, and to distract attention from Challuhuma by dwelling upon the
undiscovered riches in other valleys, and the great vegetable wealth of the
country a little to the eastward of it. Other accounts from this district give a
different version, and represent Pimentel as a party in one of the mining
companies, and interested in keeping secret the true state of affairs. The
quarrel on this subject ran very high in the department of Puno, and even
the motives and conduct of General Deustua, then prefect of the
department, and now governor of the "Provincia Littoral" of Callao—a man
of the very highest standing and character in his country—were impugned.
He vindicated his reputation in a very spirited letter to the Secretary of State
for the Treasury Department, demanding to be relieved, and receiving an
apologetic reply from the government.
It appears from some notices of this country, written by Manuel
Hurtado, a citizen of Puno, "that the province of Carabaya has an extent of
one hundred and eighty miles, from north to south, rendered more to the
traveller, who wishes to pass over its whole length, on account of his having
to cross the spurs of the mountains, which divide the whole country into
valleys, having auriferous streams; for, from Cuia to Quica, there are
eighteen miles; to Sandia, forty-two; to Cuyo-Cuyo, twelve; to Patambuco,
eighteen; to Phara, thirty-six; to Uricayas, forty-five; to Coasa, eighteen; to
Thiata, thirty; to Ayapata, eighteen; to Ollachea, forty-two; and to Corani,
eighteen; making three hundred and seven miles. All these villages, except
the last, are in the line of the edge of the Montaña. The villages of Macusani
and Crucero are on this other side of the Cordillera. The population of the
province is thirty thousand souls, over and above strangers, who come to
collect the gold and cascarilla.
"The exportation of the products of the province for the last year were
about three hundred thousand pounds of cascarilla, twenty-five thousand
baskets of coca, (of twenty-one pounds each,) and one thousand pounds of
coffee. The small crops of maize, &c., are only for the consumption of the
country. The only two plantations that have been opened in the last two
years, by D. Augustin Aragon and D. Lorenzo Requelme, will begin to
render their crops in the coming year.

"According to the notices acquired from different persons, and
particularly from Pimentel and the Pobletes, we know that the gold taken
from Challuhuma, from the middle of June to September, amounts to seven
hundred pounds, of which the Pobletes hold three, and the balance has been
sold by various individuals in the fairs and markets of Azangaro,
Tangazuca, and Crucero, over and above the many pounds that have been
sent for sale to Puno and Arequipa, and that which the Indians indubitably
hold, seeing that they only sell enough to purchase themselves necessaries;
although one has been known to sell the value of six hundred dollars. About
the end of September the associates of the company styled 'Descubridora'
destroyed the hanging bridges, (oroyas,) the rafts, and even some parts of
the road, saying that in Challuhuma there is nothing, and advising all to
return to their houses. This rather encouraged them to proceed. They
plunged into the woods where human foot had never trodden, and, crossing
the great river on temporary oroyas, many persons settled themselves in
Challuhuma; whence they have been taking gold without its being known
how much has been collected in the month and a half which has intervened.
It is worthy of note that these people and the Pobletes have very imperfect
means of extracting the gold: being reduced to what they call 'chichiquear,'
which is, to place earth in a trough, wash it a little while in the stream, and
collect the gold that has settled; which may be one, two, or more ounces,
according to the fortune of the washer. They repeat this operation as many
times a day as their strength will permit. On one occasion the sub-prefect
Pimentel obtained from one trough-full twenty-odd ounces of gold, as he
himself related to us; and no trough-full yields less than one ounce."
There seems exaggeration in this account; but an anonymous
publication from Puno on this subject of Carabaya goes beyond this. It says:
"In the year 1713, a mine of silver was discovered in a hill called
Uncuntayo, among the heights (Altos) of Ollachea, which gave more than
four thousand marks to the caxon. (Six marks to the caxon is a paying yield
in Cerro Pasco.) These riches gave rise to such disturbances, violences, and
murders, that the Viceroy had to march to suppress the disorders; but after a
few years the hill fell in and closed the mines.
"It has been always known that much gold existed in all the ravines of
the district of Phara, and the proof is the discovery of it, in the present year,

at the points called Beinisamayo, Rio Challuhuma, and Acomayo, from
which 'placeres' it is certain that even in this short time many arrobas
(twenty-five pounds) of fine gold, in the shape of melon seeds, have been
taken and seen in Puno Arequipa, &c. The sight of this gold, and the
conviction which is entertained of the existence of abundance of this metal,
have awakened the avarice of all, and are attracting to Carabaya a
concurrence of the people of the departments of La Paz, Puno, Arequipa,
and Cuzco. The work must cease, on account of the rains, towards the end
of October; but from May onwards, we shall have growing up there a
society, heterogeneous, avaricious, and needing authorities and judges, that
the 'placeres' may be appointed among the workers according to law; that
property may be secured; and that those disorders which may be expected
to grow out of such a state of affairs may be checked: for the sub-prefect,
besides being a principal associate in the companies for collecting gold and
cascarilla, has not the weight of character necessary in these cases.
Moreover, the person who directs in mining matters (Diputado de Mineria)
resides in Puno, two hundred miles from the point whence the gold is
extracted. The companies endeavor, by every means in their power, to hide
the riches which exist in the already discovered mines, and to throw
difficulties in the way of getting there; but we know that every trough-full
of the earth which is washed gives six ounces and upwards, and that there
are only three days on horseback from Phara to the banks of the great river,
though the road is somewhat rough; and from the other side of the river,
(which may be crossed by an oroya or on rafts) to the mines is only one day
on foot. The climate of the greater part of the Montaña of Carabaya is
entirely healthy, and of an endurable heat. Its lands are so rich that they give
three crops a year, and produce fine coca, coffee that rivals that of Mocha,
superior cacao, potatoes, maize, fruits, raisins of every kind, the vanilla,
superior and most abundant woods, and the cascarilla, called calisaya, with
all the other classes. Added to this there are rivers with immense fisheries,
so that people would do well to colonize there even if there were no gold.
The savages, in tribes of more than two hundred souls, live scattered about
sixty or ninety miles to the eastward of the placeres. It is necessary to adopt
some measures of precaution to anticipate attacks which they would be
likely to make on small parties."

Pimentel says that the Indians on some of the beaches of the great river
"Inambari," which flows through this Montaña, make a sort of scaly
pavement (empedrado, en forma de escama) just before the increase of the
river, caused by the rains, so that the gold borne down by its current may be
deposited. They call these their chacras, or farms of gold, and collect their
crop at the falling of the river.
It will be perceived, from the above accounts, that, if the river "Madre
de Dios" of Father Bobo should be identical with the Purus, and there
should be a navigable communication between this country and the
Atlantic, the advantages to commerce would be enormous, and the
"Brillante Porvenir," or dazzling future of Cuzco, would be no dream. I
judge, from the description of the country through which this "great river"
(as it is called in all the accounts of people who have visited these parts)
flows, that it is not navigable; and it is certain that neither the cascarilla nor
the gold can be collected for six months in the year. Yet I judge that there is
a much nearer and easier communication with the Atlantic, by this route,
than that by the passage of the Cordillera, and the voyage around Cape
Horn; and that the opening to trade of a country which produces, in
abundance, gold, and the best quality of cinchona, would soon repay the
courage, enterprise, and outlay of money which would be necessary to
open, at most, but a short road, and to remove a few obstructions from a
river.
Since writing the above I have received from Mr. Clay, our
distinguished chargé at Lima, a slip from the Comercio, a Lima journal,
containing an account of the fitting out of an expedition for the exploration
of this river by the people of the town of Paucartambo. These, tired of
waiting the tardy action of the government, met in council on the 10th of
June, 1852, and subscribed one hundred and fifteen dollars to pay the
expenses of the exploring party. Twenty Indians were hired, for twenty
days, at five dollars a head, and ten dollars given as gratification to their
overseer; the remaining five were expended in repairing the axes and other
tools supplied by the farmers. The party, consisting of young volunteers,
having their expeditionary flag blessed by the Curate, being exhorted by
their governors and elders, and placed under the especial protection of our
blessed Lady of Carmen, marched out, under the guidance of Don Manuel
Ugaldi, amid the strains of music and the "vivas" blessings and tears of their

relatives and friends. We have yet to see the result of so enthusiastic an
outburst.
I was so much impressed with the importance of this route, that I left
Lima undecided whether I should take it or not; and at Tarma, after long
and anxious deliberation, (the measure being supported by Mr. Gibbon's
advice and earnest personal solicitation,) I determined to take the
responsibility of dividing the party, and did so, furnishing Mr. Gibbon with
the following instructions, and verbally calling his attention to the river
Beni:
Tarma, June 30, 1851.

Sir: From a careful perusal of my instructions from the Navy
Department, it appears to be a matter of importance that as much of the
great South American basin, drained by the Amazon and its tributaries,
should be explored as the means placed at my disposal will allow; and
having now arrived at a point where, if the party is kept together, some
objects of much interest will have to be abandoned to secure others, I have
determined to divide the party, and confide a portion of it to your direction.
You will, therefore, with "Mr. Richards" and a guide, proceed to
"Cuzco," and examine the country to the eastward of that place. It is said
that a large and navigable river, called the Madre de Dios, has its source in
the mountains of Carabaya, and may be approached at a navigable point by
descending the Andes from "Cuzco." Many arguments have been adduced
to show that this river is the "Purus," which is known to empty into the
Amazon.
It is desirable that this should be determined; and you will make such
inquiries in Cuzco as will enable you to decide whether it is practicable to
descend this river. I am under the impression that its shores, near where you
would be likely to embark, are inhabited by tribes of savage and warlike
Indians, who have committed frequent depredations upon the "haciendas"
established in the neighborhood. You will constantly bear in mind that your
loss will deprive the government of the after-services expected of you in the
prosecution of our important and interesting enterprise. You will therefore
run no unnecessary risk, nor expose yourself or party to unreasonable
danger from the attacks of these savages. The inhabitants of Cuzco are said

to be so much interested in this discovery, that they may furnish you an
escort past the point of danger.
Should you find this route impracticable, you will proceed south, to
Puno, on the banks of the "Lake Titicaca;" thence around the southern
shores of this "lake" to La Paz, in Bolivia; thence to Cochabamba; and,
descending the mountains in that neighborhood, embark upon the
"Mamoré," and descend that river and the "Madeira" to the Amazon. You
will then ascend the Amazon to the "Barra do Rio Negro," and, making that
your headquarters, make excursions for the exploration of the main stream
and adjacent tributaries, until my arrival, or you hear from me.
You are already possessed of the views of the department regarding the
objects of this expedition. A copy of its instructions is herewith furnished
you. You will follow them as closely as possible.
Should you go into "Bolivia," I would call your attention to the
"cascarilla," or Peruvian bark, which is of a better quality in that country
than elsewhere. Make yourself acquainted with its history and present
condition.
Wishing you success, I remain your obedient servant,
WM. LEWIS HERNDON,
Lieutenant U. S. Navy.
Passed Midshipman Lardner Gibbon,
U. S. Navy.

Other reasons that induced me to take this step were, that I might carry
out the instructions of the department as fully as lay in my power; and while
I gave my own personal attention to the countries drained by the upper
Marañon and its tributaries, Mr. Gibbon might explore some, and gather all
the information he could respecting others, of the Bolivian tributaries of the
Amazon. The objections were, that the department had not sanctioned the
step, and that by separating we were deprived of the comfort and assistance
to be derived from companionship—no small item in so long and lonely a
journey. But I did not conceive that these should weigh against the
consideration that we could cover more ground apart than together.

I felt that, under my instructions requiring me to explore the Amazon
from its source to its mouth, I could not neglect the route I finally
determined to take. This route would enable me to form a judgment
respecting the practicability of a transitable connexion between Lima and
the navigable headwaters of the tributaries of the Amazon—would lead me
through the richest and most productive mineral district of Peru—would put
under my observation nearly all the course of the Amazon—and would
enable me to gather information regarding the Pampa del Sacramento, or
great plain, shut in between four great rivers, and concerning which the
"Viagero Universal" says "that the two continents of America do not contain
another country so favorably situated, or so fertile."
The last and most commonly-used route to the Montaña is through the
cities of Truxillo, Caxamarca, Chachapoyas, Moyobamba, &c. The Andes
here break into many chains, sending off spurs in all directions, but none of
any great height, so that there is a tolerably good mule road all the way to
Moyobamba; and almost all articles of foreign manufacture—such as cloths
and the necessary household articles used in the small towns that border the
Huallaga and the Marañon—are supplied by this route. The climate and
productions of this country are, on account of its precipitous elevations,
and, consequently, deep valleys, very various; and here the sugar-cane and
the pine-apple may be seen growing by a spectator standing in the barley
field and the potato patch.
This route crosses the Amazon, or rather the Marañon, where,
according to Lieut. Maw, it is sixty yards wide, and rushes between
mountains whose summits are hid in the clouds. This point is about three
degrees north of its source, in Lake Lauricocha; but the river is nowhere
navigable until Tomependa, in the province of Jaen de Braca Moros, is
reached; whence it may be descended, but with great peril and difficulty, on
rafts. There are twenty-seven "pongos," or rapids, to pass, and the water
rushes over these with frightful velocity. Four days of such navigation
passes the last, called the Pongo de "Manseriché," near the village of San
Borja, and I am satisfied that an unbroken channel, of at least eighteen feet
in depth, may be found thence to the Atlantic Ocean.
That the rains might be entirely over, and the roads on the mend in the
Cordillera, I fixed upon the 20th of May as the day of departure, and Mr.

Gibbon and I set about making the necessary preparations. I engaged the
services of Don Manuel Ijurra, a young Peruvian, who had made the voyage
down the Amazon a few years before, as interpreter to the Indians; and
Capt. Gauntt, of the frigate Raritan, then lying in the harbor of Callao, was
kind enough to give me a young master's mate from his ship, named
Richards; besides supplying me with carbines, pistols, ammunition, and a
tent. Capt. Magruder, of the St. Mary's, also offered me anything that the
ship could supply, and furnished me with more arms, and fifteen hundred
fathoms of the fishing-line now put on board ships for deep-sea soundings.
Our purchases were four saddle-mules, which, through the agency of
Dr. Smith, we were fortunate enough to get young, sound, and well bitted,
(indispensable requisites,) out of a drove just in from the mountains. We
consulted the learned in such matters on the propriety of having them shod,
and found the doctors disagreeing upon this subject very much. As they
were from the mountains, and their hoofs were round, sound, and
apparently as hard as iron, we decided not to shoe; and, I believe, did better
than if we had followed a contrary course. We also purchased about a
thousand yards of coarse cotton cloth, made in the mills at Lima, and put up
for mountain travel in bales of half a mule-load; hatchets, knives, tinder-
boxes, fish-hooks, beads, looking-glasses, cotton handkerchiefs, ribbons,
and cheap trinkets, which we thought might take the fancy of the Indians,
and purchase us services and food when money would not. These things
were also put up in boxes of the same size and shape, and each equal to half
a mule-load. Our trunks were arranged in the same way, so that they might
be lashed one on each side of the mule's back, with an India-rubber bag,
(also obtained from the Raritan,) which carried our bedclothes, put on top in
the space between them. This makes a compact and easily-handled load;
and every traveller in the Cordillera should take care to arrange his baggage
in this way, and have, as far as possible, everything under lock and key, and
in water-tight chests. Such small, incongruous articles as our pots and pans
for cooking, our tent, and particularly the tent-pole, which was carried fore
and aft above a cargo, and which, from its length, was poking into
everything, and constantly getting awry, gave us more trouble than anything
else.
Our bedding consisted of the saddle-cloths, a stout blanket, and
anything else that could be packed in the India-rubber bag. An Englishman,

from New Holland, whom I met in Lima, gave me a coverlet made of the
skins of a kind of racoon, which served me many a good turn; and often,
when in the cold of the Cordillera I wrapped myself in its warm folds, I felt
a thrill of gratitude for the thoughtful kindness which had provided me with
such a comfort. We purchased thick flannel shirts, ponchos, of India-rubber,
wool, and cotton, and had straw hats, covered with oil-cloth, and fitted with
green veils, to protect our eyes from the painful affections which often
occur by the sudden bursting out of the sunlight upon the masses of snow
that lie forever upon the mountain tops.
We carried two small kegs—one containing brandy, for drinking, and
the other the common rum of the country, called Ron de Quemar, for
burning; also, some coarse knives, forks, spoons, tin cups, and plates. I did
not carry, as I should have done, a few cases of preserved meat, sardines,
cheese, &c., which would have given us a much more agreeable meal than
we often got on the road; but I did carry, in the India-rubber bags, quite a
large quantity of biscuit, which I had baked in Lima, which served a very
good purpose, and lasted us to Tarma.
We had the mules fitted with the heavy, deep-seated box saddles of
Peru. I believe the English saddle would be much more comfortable, and
probably as safe to the rider accustomed to it; but it would be almost
impossible with these to preserve the skin of the mule from chafe. The
Peruvian saddles rest entirely upon the ribs of the animal, which are
protected by at least six yards of a coarse woollen fabric manufactured in
the country, called jerga, and touch the back-bone nowhere. These saddles
are a wooden box frame, stuffed thickly on the inside, and covered
outwardly with buckskin. They are fitted with heavy, square, wooden
stirrups, which are thought to preserve the legs from contact with projecting
rocks, and, being lined with fur, to keep the feet warm. There is also a
heavy breast-strap and crupper for steep ascents and descents; and a thick
pillon, or mat, made of thrums of cotton, silk, or hair, is thrown over the
saddle, to make the seat soft. The reins and head-stall of the bridle should
be broad and strong, and the bit the coarse and powerful one of the country.
Our guns, in leathern cases, were slung to the crupper, and the pistols
carried in holsters, made with large pockets, to carry powder-flasks,
percussion caps, specimens that we might pick up on the road, &c. A small
box of instruments for skinning birds and dissecting animals; a medicine

chest, containing, among other things, some arsenical soap, for preserving
skins; a few reams of coarse paper, for drying leaves and plants; chart
paper, in a tin case; passports and other papers, also in a tin case; note-
books, pencils, &c., completed our outfit. A chest was made, with
compartments for the sextant, artificial horizon, boiling-point apparatus,
camera lucida, and spy-glass. The chronometer was carried in the pocket,
and the barometer, slung in a leathern case made for it, at the saddle-bow of
Mr. Gibbon's mule.
On the 15th of May I engaged the services of an arriero, or muleteer.
He engaged to furnish beasts to carry the party and its baggage from Lima
to Tarma at ten dollars the head, stopping on the road wherever I pleased,
and as long as I pleased, for that sum. An ordinary train of baggage mules
may be had on the same route for about seven dollars the head. The arrieros
of Peru, as a class, have a very indifferent reputation for faithfulness and
honesty, and those on the route, (that from Lima to Cerro Pasco,) to which
my friend particularly belonged, are said to be the worst of their class. He
was a thin, spare, dark Indian, of the Sierra or mountain land, about forty-
five years of age, with keen, black eye, thin moustache, and deliberate in his
speech and gesture. I thought I had seldom seen a worse face; but Mr.
McCall said that he was rather better looking than the generality of them.
He managed to cheat me very soon after our acquaintance.
Arrieros, when they supply as many mules as I had engaged, always
furnish a peon, or assistant, to help load and unload, and take care of the
mules. Mine, taking advantage of my ignorance in these matters, said to me
that his peon was "desanimado," (disheartened,) was afraid of the "Piedra
Parada," or upright rock, where we were to cross the Cordillera, and had
backed out; but that he himself could very well attend to the mules if I
would be good enough to let him have the occasional assistance of my
Indian servant. I unwarily promised, which was the cause of a good deal of
difficulty; but when the old rascal complained of over-work and sickness on
the road, I had an answer for him which always silenced him—that is, that
it was his own cupidity and dishonesty which caused it, and that if he did
not work and behave himself, I would discharge him without pay, and send
back to Lima for another.

I directed him to bring the mules to the hotel door on the 20th; but,
upon his finding that this was Tuesday, he demurred, saying that it was an
unlucky day, and that no arriero was willing to start on that day, but that
Monday was lucky, and begged that I would be ready by then. This I could
not do; so that on Wednesday, the 21st of May, we loaded up, though I had
to cajole, and finally to bribe the old fellow, to take on all the baggage,
which he represented to be too much for his beasts.
I did wrong to start, for the party was short of a servant allowed by my
instructions. (I had not been able to get one in Lima, except at an
unreasonable price, and depended upon getting one in some of the towns of
the Sierra.) The arriero needed a peon, and the mules were overloaded. I
would strongly advise all travellers in these parts to imitate the conduct of
the Jesuits, whose first day's journey is to load their burden mules, saddle
and mount their riding-mules; go twice round the patio or square, on the
inside of their dwelling, to see that everything is prepared and fits properly;
and then unload and wait for the morning. However, I foresaw a longer
delay by unloading again than I was willing to make; and after a hard
morning's work in drumming up the Peruvian part of the expedition, (these
people have not the slightest idea that a man will start on a journey on the
day he proposes,) the party, consisting of myself, Mr. Gibbon, Mr. Richards,
Mr. Ijurra, Mauricio, an Indian of Chamicuros, (a village on the Huallaga,)
and the arriero, Pablo Luis Arredondo, with seven burden-mules, defiled out
by the Gate of Marvels, (Puerta de Maravillas,) and took the broad and
beaten road that ascends the left bank of the Rimac.

CHAPTER III.
Passports—Means of defence—The road—Pacayar—Chaclacayo—
Narrow pass—Yanacoto—Bridge—Cocachacra—Tribute money—
Dividing line between the coast and the Sierra—Moyoc—Varieties of the
potato—Matucana—San Mateo—Mines of Párac—Narrow valley—
Summit of the Cordillera—Reflections.
Before leaving Lima I had had several interviews with the President,
General Castilla, who exhibited much interest in my mission; and the Hon.
J. R. Clay, U. S. chargé d'affaires, had presented me to General Torrico,
who at that time was sole Minister of Peru, under the newly elected
President, General Echenique, who yet had not had time to appoint his
Cabinet. General Torrico caused to be issued to me the following passport
and letter:

[Translation.]
Juan Crisostomo Torrico,
Minister of War and Marine, and charged with the conduct of Foreign Relations.

In that Wm. Lewis Herndon, lieutenant of the navy of the United
States, and Lardner Gibbon, passed midshipman of the same, commissioned
by their government to make a scientific expedition in the Territory of Peru,
direct themselves towards the interior of the republic for the discharge of
their commission, accompanied by Henry Richards, Manuel Ijurra,
Mauricio N., attached to said commission, and by two servants:

Therefore, I direct that the authorities of the districts they may pass
through shall place no obstacle in the way of the above-mentioned
gentlemen and servants; but, rather, shall afford them all the assistance and
facilities that may be necessary for the fulfilment of their object, preserving
to them the considerations which are their due—(guardandole las
consideraciones que les son debidas.)
Given in Lima, the 13th of May, 1851.
J. C'MO. TORRICO.

[Translation.]
To the Prefect of the Department of Amazonas.

Sir: Wm. Lewis Herndon, lieutenant of the navy of the United States,
and Lardner Gibbon, passed midshipman of the same, commissioned by the
government of that nation to make a scientific expedition in the eastern
parts of Peru, accompanied by Henry Richards, Mauricio N., and Manuel
Ijurra, as adjuncts to the expedition, direct themselves towards the
department under your command in the discharge of their commission. As
the expedition deserves, on account of its important object, the particular
protection of the government, his Excellency the President commands me to
advise you to afford them whatever resources and facilities they may need
for the better discharge of their commission, taking care, likewise, that there
shall be preserved to them the considerations that are their due.
The which I communicate to you for its punctual fulfilment.

God preserve you.
J. C'MO. TORRICO.

This passport was made out at a time when I expected to procure two
servants. Mauricio, the Chamicuros Indian, was the only servant who
accompanied us.
We were accompanied for a mile or two on the road by our kind friends
and countrymen, Messrs. Prevost, Foster, and McCall, who drew up at the
Cemetery to bid us good-bye; Mr. Prevost advising us to halt at the first
place we could find pasturage for the mules. The road we were to travel had
reputation for robbers, and Mr. McCall desired to know how we were to
defend ourselves in case of attack, as we carried our guns in leather cases,
strapped to the crupper, and entirely out of reach for a sudden emergency.
Gibbon replied by showing his six-barrelled Colt, and observed that Ijurra,
Richards, and myself had each a pair of pistols at hand. As for Mauricio, he
kept his pistols in his saddle-bags; and I was satisfied, from some attempts

that I had made to teach Luis to shoot, (though he was very ambitious and
desirous to learn,) that it was dangerous to trust him with a pair, as he might
as readily fire into his friends as his enemies. With the comfortable
observation from Mr. McCall that he never expected to see us again, we
shook hands and parted.
Our course lay about E. N. E. over an apparently level and very stony
road. To the right were the green cane and alfalfa[4] fields, about Miraflores
and Chorillos; and on the left and behind, the vegetation afforded by the
valley of the Rimac; but ahead all was barren, grim, and forbidding.
Just before sunset we stopped at the hacienda (estate, or farm, or
settlement) of Santa Clara, and applied for pasturage. We were told by an
old negro woman sitting on the ground at the door of the house, that there
was none; which was confirmed by two men who just then rode up, and
who expressed their regret at not being able to accommodate us. It was
remarkable to see such poverty and squalid wretchedness at nine miles from
the great city of Lima; it was like passing in a moment from the most
luxurious civilization into savage barbarity—from the garden to the desert.
We rode on, about three miles further, to the hacienda of Pacayar, where
we arrived at half past six o'clock, p. m.
Before the mules could be unloaded it became very dark; so that the
arriero and Mauricio had considerable trouble in driving them to the
pasturage. Indeed some of them got away; I could hear them galloping
furiously up and down the road, and I went to bed on a table in the only
room in the house, with the comfortable reflection that I had balked at
starting, and should have to return or send back to Lima to buy more mules.
Tormented with these reflections, and oppressed with the excitement
and fatigue of the day, I could not sleep; but tossed "in restless ecstacy" for
many a long hour, until just before daylight, when, as I was dropping to
sleep, a couple of game cocks, tied by the leg in the room, commenced
"their salutation to the morn," and screamed out their clarion notes within a
yard of my ear. This was too much for me. I rushed out—to meet a
heavenly morning, and old Luis, with the intelligence that the mules were
"all right." I took off my upper clothes, and plunged head, neck, and
shoulders, into the water of a little mountain stream that rushed clear and

cold as ice by the roadside in front of the house. Thus refreshed and
invigorated, the appearance of affairs took a new aspect, and light-
heartedness and hope came back as strong and fresh as in the days of
boyhood.
The mayordomo, or steward of the estate, was a Chino, (descendant of
Indian and negro,) and seemed an amiable and intelligent fellow, He gave
us a supper of a thin soup (caldo) and chupe;[5] and whilst we were eating it,
he was engaged in teaching the children of a neighbor the multiplication
table and the catechism.
From the appearance of things, I judge this estate paid little enough to
its owner; for I saw small signs of cultivation about it, though I should think
that the valley of the Rimac, which is a full mile in width in front of the
house, would produce good and (considering the short distance to Lima)
valuable crops of grass and vegetables. The land is ploughed with a rude,
heavy, wooden plough of one handle, which is shod with iron. It is
generally worked by a yoke of oxen.
The house was built of adobe, or sun-dried bricks, and roofed with
tiles. It had but one room, which was the general receptacle for all comers.
A mud projection, of two feet high and three wide, stood out from the walls
of the room all round, and served as a standing bed place for numbers.
Others laid their blankets and ponchos and stretched themselves upon the
floor; so that, with whites, Indians, negroes, trunks, packages, horse
furniture, game cocks, and Guinea pigs, we had quite a caravansera
appearance. The supper and bed that the steward had given us were
gratuitous; he would accept no remuneration; and we got our breakfast of
chupe and eggs at a tambo or roadside inn nearly opposite.
Though we commenced loading up soon after daylight, we did not get
off until half-past nine. Such delays were invariable; and this was owing to
the want of a peon and another servant.
The height of Pacayar above the level of the sea is one thousand three
hundred and forty-six feet.
May 22.—Roads still good; valley gradually narrowing, and hills
becoming higher, and more barren and rocky. We passed several squads of

asses and llamas carrying potatoes and eggs, some of them as far as from
Jauja, to Lima. Six miles from Pacayar is the village (pueblo) of
Chaclacayo, consisting of four or five houses, constructed of cane and mud.
A mile further is the Juzgado of Sta. Ines, quite a large, good-looking
house, with a small chapel near it. This was the residence, in the Spanish
times, of a justice of the peace, who administered law and judgment to his
neighbors; hence called Juzgado. Soon after leaving this the stream
approached the hills so close that there was no longer room between them
for the road; and this had to be cut out of the side of the hill. It was very
narrow, and seemed in some places to overhang the stream fifty feet below
it. Just as we were turning an angle of the road we met a man driving two
horses before him, which immediately mingled in with our burden mules,
and endangered their going over the precipice. Our arriero shouted to the
man, and, spurring his horse through the mules, commenced driving back
the horses of the other, who flourished his whip, and insisted upon passing.
I expected to see a fight, and mischief happen, which would probably have
fallen upon us, as the other had nothing to lose, when Ijurra called out to
him, and represented that our cargoes were very valuable, and that if one
were lost he should be held responsible; whereupon he desisted, drove his
horses back, and suffered us to pass. This caused us to be more careful in
our march; and I sent Gibbon, with Richards, ahead, to warn persons, or
give us warning, in time to prevent a collision. The burden mules were
driven by the arriero and the servant, in the middle; while Ijurra and I
brought up the rear.
At 2 p. m. we stopped at the Tambo of Yanacoto. I determined to stay
here a day or two to get things shaken into their places, and obtain a new
error and rate for the chronometer, which had stopped the day before, a few
hours out of Lima, though we had not discovered it till this morning. I
cared, however, very little for this, as I was satisfied that it would either
stop again or so vary in its rate as to be worthless. No chronometer will
stand the jar of mule travel over these roads, especially if carried in the
pocket, where the momentum of the jar is parallel to the movement of the
balance-wheel of the watch. Were I to carry a chronometer on such a
journey again, I would have it placed in its box on a cushion on the saddle-
bow; and when I travelled in a canoe, where the motion is the other way, I
would hang it up. We pitched the tent in the valley before the road, and

proceeded to make ourselves as comfortable as possible; got an observation
for time, and found the latitude of Yanacoto, by Mer. alt. of γ Crucis, to be
11° 51´ 20´´.
May 23.—Bathing before breakfast is, on this part of the route, both
healthful and pleasant. There seemed to be no cultivation in this valley,
which here is about half a mile wide. It is covered with bushes, except close
to the water's edge, where grow reeds and flags. The bushes are dwarf
willow, and a kind of locust called Sangre de Christo, which bears a broad
bean, containing four or five seeds, and a pretty red flower, something like
our crape myrtle. There is also a bush, of some ten or twelve feet in height,
called Molle. This is the most common shrub of the country, and has a
wider climatic range than any other of this slope of the Andes. It has long,
delicate leaves, like the acacia, and produces an immense quantity of small
red berries in large bunches. The leaves, when crushed, have a strong
aromatic smell; and many persons believe that it is certain death to sleep
under its shade. Dr. Smith, in his book, called "Peru as it is," says that "this
tree is much prized for fuel. The sugar refiners of the interior use the ashes
from it in preference to those from any other wood, on account of their
higher alkaline properties, and consequent efficiency in purifying the cane-
juice when being boiled down to a proper consistence to be cast into
moulds. The Inca tribe, as we learn from Garcilasso de la Vega, made a
highly valuable and medicinal beer, which some of the Indians of the
interior still occasionally prepare, from the clusters of small grained fruit
that hang gracefully and abundantly from this pretty tree."
We saw several cases of tertiana, or chills and fever, at Yanacoto. The
people seem to have no remedy, except drinking spirits just before the chill
comes on, and using as a drink, during the fever, the juice of the bitter
orange, with sugar and water. When the case is bad, those who can afford it
—such as the mayordomos and tamberos (the keepers of the road-side inns,
called tambos)—send to Lima and get medical advice and physic. Our
tambero killed a mutton for us, and (leaving out the lard, which is always
abominable) made a good chupe. The roast was a failure; but we got poultry
and eggs, and had a very good time.
The elevation of Yanacoto is two thousand three hundred and thirty-
seven feet, a little more than one thousand feet above Pacayar. The distance

between them is about ten miles; showing a rise to the mile of about one
hundred feet, which is very little greater than that between Callao and Lima.
May 24.—Had observation for time; breakfasted, and started at ten.
Valley still narrowing; the hills becoming mountains, mostly of granite;
rock piled upon rock for hundreds of feet, and in every variety of shape; no
vegetation, except where the hardy cactus finds aliment in the crevices of
the rock.
About four and a half miles above Yanacoto we passed the hacienda of
Lachosita, and soon after the little village of San Pedro Mama, where the
first bridge is thrown over the Rimac. Heavy, rough stone-work is built on
each side of the river, into which are inserted massive pieces of timber,
standing out a few feet from the face of the masonry, and hewn flat on top.
On their ends are laid trunks of trees, crossing the river, and securely
lashed. Athwart these are laid sticks of wood, of some two or three inches
diameter, lashed down, and covered over with bundles of reeds, mud, and
stones.
After San Pedro, at about three miles of distance, comes the hacienda
of Santa Ana, belonging to Señor Ximenes, an old gentleman of Lima, who
had made a large fortune by mining. Just before reaching there we met a
drove of one hundred and fifty mules belonging to him, in fine condition
and well appointed, going to Lima, laden with small sticks of the willow
and molle for fuel.
There is very little cultivation till near Cocachacra, where we saw well-
tilled fields, green with alfalfa and Indian corn. We arrived at this place at
half-past five, and pitched the tent in a meadow near the river, and without
the town, for the purpose of avoiding company and disagreeable curiosity.
Although we had seen fields of lucern before entering the village, we
could get none for our mules after we got there; and to every inquiry for
hay, fodder, or grain, the constant reply was "No hay," (there is none.)
Gibbon, however, persevered until some one told him, in an undertone, as if
imparting a great secret, where a little corn was to be purchased, and he got
a peck or two shelled. We were continually annoyed and put to
inconvenience by the refusal of the people to sell to us. I think it arose from
one of two causes, or probably both—either that money was of less value to

them than the things we wanted, or they feared to have it known that they
had possessions, lest the hand of authority should be laid upon them, and
they be compelled to give up their property without payment.
Cocachacra is a village of about one hundred inhabitants, and at present
the residence of the sub-prefect or governor of the province, which is that of
Huarochiri. This province, according to the "Guia de Forasteros," (a sort of
official almanac published yearly at Lima,) is conterminous with that of
Lima, and commences at eighteen miles from the city. It has ninety miles of
length from N. W. to S. E., and seventy-two of breadth. There are fourteen
thousand two hundred and fifty-eight native inhabitants; and its fiscal
income is fourteen thousand two hundred and fifty-eight dollars and two
reals; its municipal, one thousand one hundred and eighty-seven dollars.
The inhabitants are generally engaged in mining, cultivating potatoes, and
raising cattle, or as muleteers. The houses, like all those of the Sierra, are
built either of stone or adobe, and thatched with wheat or barley straw.
We called on the sub-prefect and exhibited our Peruvian passports,
asking, at the same time, that he would give us some assistance in obtaining
food for our beasts. This he seemed lukewarm about, and I did not press
him, for I had made up my mind that as far as it was possible I would avoid
appealing to authority for the purpose of obtaining supplies, and go without
what I could not buy or beg. He had in the house the semi-yearly
contribution of his province towards the support of the government, which
he was to send to Lima next day. A gentleman suggested that he might be
robbed that night; but he said that his guns were loaded, (pointing to some
muskets standing around the room,) and that he might count upon
assistance from our party, which seemed well armed.
Very little help he would have had from us. He had shown no
disposition to oblige us, and moreover I had no notion of interfering in
other people's quarrels, or preventing the people from taking back their
money if they wanted it. This contribution is a capitation tax of seven
dollars a year, collected half-yearly from the Indian population between the
ages of sixteen and sixty. It is collected by the governors of the districts into
which a province is divided, who receive two per centum on their
collections, and pay over to the sub-prefect, who receives four per cent. on
the whole amount collected from the districts of his province. The prefects

of the departments, which are made up of a number of provinces, receive a
regular salary, according to the size and wealth of their departments,
varying from three to five thousand dollars. We slept comfortably in the
tent. Nights getting cool.
May 25.—Started at 10 a. m. Valley getting so narrow as not to allow
room for the road, which is in many places cut from the rock on the side of
the hill, very narrow, rough and precipitous, rising and falling as it crosses
the spurs of the hills. The general character of the rock is a feldspar
porphyry, succeeded, as the road ascends, by a very coarse-grained trachyte
porphyry, reaching as far as Surco. Vegetation, willow, molle, and many
varieties of the cactus. We passed on the road the ruins of an ancient Indian
town; the houses had been small, and built of stone on terraces cut from the
mountain side.
At two we passed through the village of Surco, the largest we have seen
on the road. It appears capable of holding five or six hundred people, but
seemed deserted—nearly every house closed, and many falling into decay.
We were told that the inhabitants were away over the hills, looking after
their plantations and flocks, and that they returned at night. But if this is so,
judging from the height of the mountains on each side of the village, I
should say that half their time is lost in going and returning from their work.
Here we leave the district called the Coast, and enter upon that called
the Sierra. There is tertiana below, but none above this. Dr. Smith, speaking
of the climate of this district, says, "that it is neither winter nor summer, but
one perpetual spring. It is out of the sphere of frosts, and exempted from the
raw fogs and sultry heats of the coast. The atmospherical currents of
mountain and coast meet here and neutralize each other; the extremes of
both disappear; and the result is a delicious climate for the convalescent,
whose tender organs require a gentle, uniform temperature, alike removed
from the extremes of heat and cold, dryness and moisture. With this
important fact the delicate inhabitants of Lima are perfectly acquainted; and
they are accustomed to resort to the 'Cabezadas,' or headlands of valleys,
where these verge on the joint air of mountain and coast, as, for example,
Matucana, the favorite resting-place of phthisical and hæmoptic individuals,
who find themselves obliged to retire from the capital in order to recover
health by visiting those celebrated sites of convalescence, Tarma and

Juaxa." We certainly had delicious weather, but did not stay long enough, of
course, to pronounce authoritatively upon its general climate.
At 5 p. m., we arrived at the Chacra of Moyoc, belonging to Ximenes.
Here we pitched for the night, having travelled about fifteen miles, which is
our usual day's journey, between ten and five. This is a most beautiful little
dell, entirely and closely surrounded by mountains. The valley has widened
out so as to give room for some narrow patches of corn and alfalfa. The
Rimac, here a "babbling brook," rushes musically between its willow-
fringed banks; and the lingering of the sunlight upon the snowy summits of
the now not distant Cordillera, long after night had settled upon the valley,
gave an effect to the scenery that was at once magical and enchanting.
The nights in the Cordillera at this season are very beautiful. The
traveller feels that he is lifted above the impurities of the lower strata of the
atmosphere, and is breathing air entirely free from taint. I was never tired of
gazing into the glorious sky, which, less blue, I think, than ours, yet seemed
palpable—a dome of steel lit up by the stars. The stars themselves sparkled
with intense brilliancy. A small pocket spy-glass showed the satellites of
Jupiter with distinctness; and Gibbon even declared on one occasion that he
could see them with the naked eye. I could not, but my sight is bad at night.
The temperature is now getting cool, and I slept cold last night, though with
all my clothes on, and covered with two parts of a heavy blanket and a
woollen poncho. The rays of the sun are very powerful in the day, until
tempered by the S. W. wind, which usually sets in about eleven o'clock in
the morning.
The steward of Ximenes, a nice old fellow, with a pretty young wife,
gave us, at a reasonable price, pasturage for the beasts and a capital chupe.
The productions of the country are maize, alfalfa, and potatoes—the maize
very indifferent; but the potatoes, though generally small, are very fine,
particularly the yellow ones. We saw here, for the first time, a vegetable of
the potato kind called Oca. It resembles in appearance the Jerusalem
artichoke, though longer and slimmer; and boiled or roasted it is very
agreeable to the taste. Richards compared its flavor to that of green corn; I
suggested pumpkin, and he allowed that it was between the two. We also
saw another vegetable of the same species, called Ulluca. This was more
glutinous, and not so pleasant to the taste. Gibbon shot a pair of beautiful

small wild ducks that were gambolling in the stream and shooting the rapids
with the speed of an arrow.
May 26.—Started at eleven, and passed the village of Matucana, a mile
from Moyoc. This appears about the size of Surco, and is the capital of the
province, (still Huarochiri.) The Guia de Forasteros states the number of its
inhabitants at one thousand three hundred and thirty-seven; but this is
manifestly too great, and I believe that the statements of this book
concerning populations are made with regard to the district in which a
village is situated, or the doctrina, or ecclesiastical division, of which the
Cura has charge. Service was going on in the church; and Gibbon and
Richards, who were far ahead, had time to go in and say their prayers.
The river is now reduced to a mountain torrent, raging in foam over the
debris of the porphyritic cliffs, which overhang its bed for hundreds of feet
in height. The valley still occasionally widens out and gives room for a little
cultivation. Where this is the case it is generally bounded on one side or the
other by cliffs of sandstone, in which innumerable parrots have perforated
holes for nests; and the road at these places lies broad and level at their
base. We crossed the river frequently on such bridges as I have described at
San Pedro Mama, and arrived at San Mateo at half-past 5 p. m., having
travelled only twelve miles. The barometer shows a much greater ascent
than we have yet made in one day's travel. We pitched in an old and
abandoned alfalfa field above the town, and got supper from the postmaster.

Lt. Gibbon del. Wagner & McGuigan's Lith. Phila.

YANACOTO.
Pl. 2.

May 27.—San Mateo, a village about the size of Surco and Matucana,
is situated on both sides of the Rimac, and at an elevation of ten thousand
two hundred feet above the level of the sea. The men work the chacras of
maize, potatoes, and beans; and the women do all the household work,
besides carrying their meals to the workmen on the farms, over hills that
would make a lazy man shudder even to look at. They live in poverty and
filth, but seem happy enough. We saw the women winnowing the beans
(which were gathered dry from the plant) by collecting them in pans made
of large gourds, and flinging them into the air; and also sifting flour, which
comes from the other side of the Cordillera, about Jauxa. The costume of
the Serrana women is different from that of the women of the coast. It
consists of a very narrow skirt, and a body of coarse woollen cloth,
generally blue, which comes from Lima, and is belted around the waist with
a broad-figured woollen belt, woven by themselves. A woollen apron, with
a figured border, is worn on the left side, hanging from the right shoulder by
a strap; and in the cold of the morning and evening the shoulders are
covered with a thick, colored blanket, reaching to the hips. A high, broad-

brimmed straw-hat, with shoes of raw-hide, drawn with a string around the
ancle, and no stockings, complete the costume. These people seem
contented with what they have, and don't want money. It was with great
difficulty we could persuade them to sell us anything, always denying that
they had it. On our return from the mines at Párac, (where Mr. Gibbon had
been sick with chills and fever,) he could not eat the chupe, which had, at
first, been made with charqui, or jerked beef, but which had now dwindled
down to cheese and potatoes. I made a speech to some curious loafers about
the tent, in which I appealed to their pride and patriotism, telling them that I
thought it strange that so large a town as San Mateo, belonging to so
famous a country as Peru, could not furnish a sick stranger, who could eat
nothing else, with a few eggs. Whereupon, a fellow went off and brought us
a dozen, though he had just sworn by the Pope that there were no such
things in the village.
May 28.—Mr. Gibbon and I, guided by a boy, rode over to the hacienda
of San Jose de Párac, leaving Richards and Ijurra in charge of the camp.
The ride occupied about three hours, over the worst roads, bordered by the
highest cliffs and deepest ravines we had yet seen. The earth here shows her
giant skeleton bare: mountains, rather than rocks, of granite, rear their gray
heads to the skies; and our proximity made these things more striking and
sublime. We found, on the sides of the hills, short grass and small clover,
with some fine cattle feeding; and, wherever the mountain afforded a level
shelf, abundance of fine potatoes, which the people were then gathering.
I brought letters from Mr. Prevost to Don Torribio Malarin, the
superintendent of the mines, who received us kindly, and entertained us
with much hospitality. His house was comfortably heated with a stove, and
the chamber furnished with a large four-post bedstead, and the biggest and
heaviest bureau I had ever seen. I was somewhat surprised at the sight of
these—
"Not that the things were very rich or rare,
I wonder'd how the devil they got there."

They must have come up in pieces, for nothing so large could have been
fastened on a mule's back, or passed entire in the narrow parts of the road.

The Hacienda is situated near the head of a small valley, which
debouches upon the road just below San Mateo; the stream which drains it
emptying into the Rimac there. It is a square, enclosed with one-story
buildings, consisting of the mill for grinding the ore, the ovens for toasting
it when ground, the workshops, store-houses, and dwelling-houses. It is
managed by a superintendent and three mayordomos, and employs about
forty working hands. These are Indians of the Sierra, strong, hardy-looking
fellows, though generally low in stature, and stupid in expression. They are
silent and patient, and, having coca enough to chew, will do an
extraordinary quantity of work. They have their breakfast of caldo and
cancha, (toasted maize,) and get to work by eight o'clock. At eleven they
have a recess of half an hour, when they sit down near their place of work,
chat lazily with each other, and chew coca, mixed with a little lime, which
each one carries in a small gourd, putting it on the mass of coca leaves in
his mouth with a wire pin attached to the stopper of the gourd that carries
the lime. Some dexterity is necessary to do this properly without cauterizing
the lips or tongue. They then go to work again until five, when they finish
for the day, and dine off chupe. It has made me, with my tropical habit of
life, shiver to see these fellows puddling with their naked legs a mass of
mud and quicksilver in water at the temperature of thirty-eight Fahrenheit.
These Indians generally live in huts near the hacienda, and are supplied
from its store-houses. They are kept in debt by the supplies; and by custom,
though not by law, no one will employ an Indian who is in debt to his
patron; so that he is compelled to work on with no hope of getting free of
the debt, except by running away to a distant part of the country where he is
not known, which some do.
The diseases incident to this occupation are indigestion, called
empacho, pleurisy, and sometimes the lungs seem affected with the fumes
and dust of the ore; but, on the whole, it does not seem an unhealthy
occupation.
The principal articles furnished from the store-house are maize, coca,
mutton, charqui, rum, sugar, coffee, tea, chocolate, chancaca, (cakes of
brown sugar,) soap, baize, cotton, and coarse linen cloths, woollen cloths,
silk handkerchiefs, foreign ponchos, ribbons, silk sashes, &c., &c., which
are supplied to the Indian at about one hundred per cent. advance on their

cost at Lima, and charged against his wages, which amount to half a dollar a
day, with half a dollar more if he work at night.
The manner of getting the silver from the ore, or beneficiating it, as it is
called in Peru, is this: The ore, after it is dug from the mine and brought to
the surface, is broken into pieces about the size of a Madeira nut or English
walnut, and sent to the hacienda, in hide-bags, on the backs of llamas or
mules. (The hacienda is always situated on the nearest stream to the mine,
for the advantages of the water-power in turning the mill.) There it is
reduced, by several grindings and siftings, to an impalpable powder. The
mill consists of a horizontal water-wheel, carrying a vertical axis, which
comes up through the floor of the mill, the wheel being below. To the top of
this axis is bolted a large cross-beam, and to the ends of the beam are slung,
by chains, heavy, rough stones, each about a ton weight. These stones, by
the turning of the axis, are carried around nearly in contact with a concave
bed of smoother and harder rock, built upon the floor of the mill, and
through which the axis comes up. The ore is poured by the basket-full upon
the bed, and the large hanging rocks grind it to powder, which pours out of
holes made in the periphery of the bed. This is shifted through fine wire
sieves, and the coarser parts are put in the mill again for re-grinding. The
ground ore, or harina, is then mixed with salt (at the rate of fifty pounds of
salt to every six hundred pounds of harina) and taken to the ovens (which
are of earth) and toasted. I could not learn the quantity of heat necessary to
be applied; it is judged of by experiment.
The fuel used in these ovens is the dung of cattle, called taquia; it costs
three cents for twenty-five pounds. The ovens here burn one million five
hundred thousand pounds yearly. After the harina is toasted, it is carried in
hide-bags to the square enclosed in the buildings of the hacienda, and laid
in piles of about six hundred pounds each upon the floor. This floor is of flat
stones, but should be of flags cemented together; because the stones have
often to be taken up to collect the quicksilver, many pounds of which run
down between the interstices. Ten of these piles are laid in a row, making a
caxon of six thousand two hundred and fifty pounds. The piles are then
moistened with water, and quicksilver is sprinkled on them through a
woollen cloth. (The quantity of mercury, which depends upon the quantity
of silver in the ore, is judged of beforehand by experiments on a small
scale.) The mass is well mixed by treading with the feet and working with

hoes. A little calcined iron pyrites, called magistral, is also added—about
four pounds to the caxon. The pile is often examined to see that the
amalgamation is going on well. In some conditions the mass is called hot;
in others, cold. The state of heat is cured by adding a little lime and rotten
dung; that of cold, by a little magistral or oxide of iron. Practice and
experience alone will enable one to judge of these states. It is then left to
stand for eight or nine days, (occasionally re-trodden and re-worked,) until
the amalgamation is complete, which is also judged of by experiment. It is
then carried to an elevated platform of stone, and thrown, in small
quantities at a time, into a well sunk in the middle of the platform; a stream
of water is turned on, and four or five men trample and wash it with their
feet. The amalgam sinks to the bottom, and the mud and water are let off,
by an aperture in the lower part of the well, into a smaller well below, lined
with a raw-hide, where one man carries on the washing with his feet. More
amalgam sinks to the bottom of this well, and the mud and water again flow
off through a long wooden trough, lined with green baize, into a pit
prepared for it, where the water percolates through the soil, leaving the mud
to be again re-washed. When the washing is finished for the day, the green
baize lining of the trough, with many particles of the amalgam clinging to
it, is washed in the larger well. The water, which by this time is clear, is let
off, and all the amalgam, called "pella," is collected, put in hide-bags, and
weighed. Two caxons are washed in a day. The pella is then put into conical
bags of coarse linen, which are hung up, and the weight of the mass presses
out a quantity of the quicksilver, which oozes through the interstices of the
linen, and is caught in vessels below. The mass, now dry, and somewhat
harder than putty, is carried to the ovens, where the remainder of the
quicksilver is driven off by heat, and the residue is the plata piña, or pure
silver. This is melted, run into bars, stamped according to the ley or quality
of the silver, and sent to Lima, either for the mint or for exportation.
In the refining process the fumes of the mercury are condensed, and it
is used again. Two pounds, however, are lost to every pound of silver. The
proportion of pure silver in the pella seca, or amalgam, after the draining
off of the mercury through the bag, is about twenty-two per cent. A careful
experiment made by Mr. Galt, a jeweller of this city, on a bit of the pella
which I brought home from Cerro Pasco, gave but eighteen and thirty-three
per cent. of pure silver.

Salt is worth at this place three reals (37½ cents) the arroba, and
mercury costs one dollar the pound in Lima. The superintendent is paid
twelve hundred dollars yearly; three mayordomos, thirty dollars each,
monthly; the corporals, or heads of the working gangs in the mines, twenty
dollars; the miners, sixty-two and a half cents per day, (as much more if
they work at night;) and the laborers at the hacienda, fifty cents. This,
however, is nominal, being more than swallowed up by the supplies. The
estimated yearly expenses of these mines are thirty thousand dollars, and
the annual yield, seventy thousand dollars. A caxon, of six thousand two
hundred and fifty pounds of the ground ore, yields, by the assay on the
small scale, fifty marks, though only twenty-five or thirty are obtained by
this process, showing a loss of nearly one-half. The quantity of silver
obtained from the relabes, or re-washings, is about twenty per cent. of the
whole: that is, if a caxon yield twenty-five marks at the first washing, the
re-washing will give five.
An idea may be formed of the value of these mines when I state that at
Cerro Pasco, which is seventy-five miles further from Lima, and on the
other side of the Cordillera, ore, which yields only six marks to the caxon,
will give a profit to the miner, though it is saddled with some duties—such
as those for drainage and for public works, from which the ore of Párac is
exempt. Malarin, the superintendent, said that the caxon must yield fifteen
marks here to pay. But granting this, I do not wonder at his expression, that
these mines would in a few years render my countryman, Mr. Prevost, the
richest man in the country, ("El hombre mas poderoso, que hay en el
Peru,") he owning a third of them.
May 29.—Visited the mines. These are situated down the valley with
regard to the hacienda, and are two leagues W. S. W. of it. They are much
nearer San Mateo than is the hacienda, but there is no road to them from
that village. The road, or rather path, lay along the side of the mountain, and
zigzagged up and down to turn precipices, now running near the banks of
the little stream, and now many hundreds of feet above it. The ride was bad
enough at this time—it must be frightful in the rainy season; though
Malarin says he sometimes travels it on horseback. This I am sure I should
not do; and when these paths are slippery I would much prefer trusting to
my own legs than to those of any other animal. Many persons suffer much
in riding amongst these precipices and ravines. Dr. Smith knew a

gentleman, who, "familiar with downs and lawns, was affected at the steeps
of the Paxaron with a giddiness that for some time after disordered his
imagination;" and one of a party of English officers, who crossed the
Cordillera at Valparaiso whilst I was there, had to return without crossing,
because he could not bear the sight of the sheer descents.
The valley of Párac lies about east and west, and the veins of silver on
the sides of the mountains E. N. E. and W. S. W., thus crossing the valley
diagonally. There are four mines belonging to the establishment, which
employ about sixty workmen, though more could be employed to
advantage. These men are directed by a mayordomo and four corporals.
They are divided into two gangs for each mine: one party will go on duty at
7 p. m. and work till 5 a. m., when they come out, rest two hours, and go on
again till 7 p. m. They are then relieved by the other party. This is very hard
work, for the mines are very wet and cold. The getter-out of the ore wields,
with one hand, a hammer of thirty pounds, and the carriers of the ore bear a
burden of one hundred and fifty pounds from the bottom of the shaft to the
surface—a distance in this case of about a quarter of a mile, of a very steep
and rough ascent. When I first met one of these men toiling up in the dark, I
thought, from the dreadful groans I heard before I saw him, that some one
was dying near me; but he does this "a purpose," for when we met he had
breath enough to give me a courteous salutation, and beg a paper cigar.
Boys commence this work at eight years of age, and spend probably the
greater part of their lives in the mine.
The mine called Sta. Rosa, which we visited, has a perpendicular depth
of five hundred and twenty feet—that is, the bottom of the shaft, which
penetrates the mountain at an angle from the horizon of about 25°, is five
hundred and twenty feet below the mouth of it. By the mining laws the shaft
(cañon) of the mine must be three feet eight inches high, three feet five
inches wide, and arched for security. The superincumbent earth frequently
requires to be supported by beams of wood laid against each other in form
of Gothic arch. I could not learn how much ore a man could get out in a
day, for it is a very uncertain quantity, depending upon the hardness of the
rock that encloses the vein. Malarin told us that he had instructed the
workmen not to blast whilst we were in the mine, because the dreadful
reverberation of sound often had an unhappy effect upon people not

accustomed to it, which, as we were men who sometimes dealt in heavy
artillery, we did not thank him for.
Returning from the mine we met a drove of llamas on their way from
the hacienda. This is quite an imposing sight, especially when the drove is
encountered suddenly at a turn of the road. The leader, which is always
elected on account of his superior height, has his head decorated with tufts
of colored woollen fringe, hung with little bells; and his extreme height,
(often six feet,) gallant and graceful carriage, pointed ear, restless eye, and
quivering lip, as he faces you for a moment, make him as striking an object
as one can well conceive. Upon pressing on him he bounds aside, either up
or down the cliff, and is followed by the herd scrambling over places that
would be impassable for the mule or the ass.
They travel immense distances, but by short stages—not more than
nine or ten miles per day. It is necessary, in long journeys, to have double
the number required to carry the cargo, so as to give them relays. The
burden of the llama is about one hundred and thirty pounds; he will not
carry more, and will be beat to death rather than move when he is
overloaded or tired. The males only are worked; the females are kept for the
breed. They appear gentle and docile, but when irritated they have a very
savage look, and spit at the object of their anger with great venom. The
spittle is said to be very acrid, and will raise blisters where it touches the
skin. We saw none in the wild state. They are bred on the haciendas in great
numbers. We had no opportunity of seeing the guanaco or alpacca, (other
varieties of the Peruvian sheep,) though we now and then, in crossing the
mountains, caught a glimpse of the wild and shy vicuña. These go in herds
of ten or fifteen females, accompanied by one male, who is ever on the
alert. On the approach of danger he gives warning by a shrill whistle, and
his charge makes off with the speed of the wind. The wool of the vicuña is
much finer and more valuable than that of the other species—it is maroon-
colored.
A good and learned Presbyter, Dr. Cabrera, whose portrait hangs in the
library at Lima, by patience and gentleness, succeeded in obtaining a cross
between the alpacca and vicuña, which he called paco vicuña, the wool of
which is said to combine the fineness of that of the vicuña and the length of
staple of that of the alpacca. The value of vicuña wool, at the port of

shipment, was, in 1838, one hundred dollars the hundred weight; that of the
alpacca, twenty-five dollars; and that of the sheep, from twelve to fifteen.
Peru shipped from the ports of Arica, Callao, and Islay, during the four
years between 1837 and 1840, inclusive, wool of the sheep, alpacca, and
vicuña, to the value of two million two hundred and forty-nine thousand
and thirty-nine dollars. (Castelnau, vol. 4, page 120.)
Were any care taken in the rearing of these wild sheep of Peru, the
country might draw a great revenue from the sale of their wool.
May 30.—Dull, rainy day. Gibbon laid up with chills and fever, which
he either brought from Lima, or took yesterday in the damp, cold mine. He
would drink as much cold water as he wanted, though our friends held up
their hands in astonishment, and said he would kill himself. Fire in a stove
is very comfortable; the thermometer, during the day, standing at 50° Fah.
May 31.—Beautiful day. Ther., at 5 a. m., 36°. The general character of
the rock is red porphyry. There is grass for pasturage; and the hill sides are
covered with a bush of some eight or ten feet high, bearing bunches of blue
flowers, resembling our lilac. There are several kinds of stinging nettle, one
of which, that bears a small yellow flower, Malarin says, will cause
gangrene and death. I had no disposition to try it; but I doubt the statement.
So dangerous a thing would scarcely be so plentiful where the bare-legged
herdsman and miner are exposed to it. Returned with Gibbon to San Mateo.
June 1.—Found Richards sick and the muleteer growling at the delay;
loaded up, and got off at eleven. At twelve the valley narrowed to a dell of
about fifty feet in width; the stream occupying its whole breadth, with the
exception of a narrow, but smooth and level mule-path on its right bank.
This is a very remarkable place. On each side the rock of red porphyry rises
perpendicularly for full five hundred feet. In places it overhangs the stream
and road. The traveller feels as if he were passing through some tunnel of
the Titans. The upper exit from the dell is so steep that steps have been cut
in the rock for the mule's feet; and the stream rushes down the rock-
obstructed declivity in foaming fury, flinging clouds of white spray over the
traveller, and rendering the path slippery and dangerous.
Passed Chiglla and Bella Vista, mining haciendas. The country is quite
thickly settled, there being houses in sight all the way between these two

places. The barley here does not give grain, but is cut for fodder. The alfalfa
has given way to short, thin grass; and we begin to find difficulty in getting
food for the beasts. We saw cabbages growing in the gardens of Chiglla,
which is a straggling village of some three or four hundred inhabitants. Just
after passing Chiglla the mountains looked low, giving the appearance of a
rolling country, and were clothed with verdure to the top. Upon turning a
corner of the road the snow-covered summits of the Cordillera were close
before us, also looking low; and when the snow or verdure suffered the
earth to be seen, this was of a deep pink color. The general character of the
rock is conglomerate. We stopped at four at the tambo of Acchahuarcu,
where we pitched and bought barley straw (alcaser) at the rate of twelve
and a half cents the armful, called "tercio," which is just enough for one
mule. The mercury in the barometer being below the scale, we had to cut
away the brass casing in front, and mark the height of the column on the
inside of the case with a pen-knife.
June 2.—Got off at half-past ten. Road tolerably good, and not very
precipitous. At twelve we arrived on a level with the lowest line of snow.
We were marking the barometer, when a traveller rode up, who proved to be
an old schoolmate of mine, whom I had not seen or even heard of since we
were boys. The meeting at this place was an extraordinary and very
agreeable occurrence. It was also fortunate for me, for my friend was head
machinist at the mines of Morococha, and gave us a note to the
administrator, which secured us a hospitable reception and an interesting
day or two. Without this we should have been compelled to pass on, for
pasturage here is very scant, and the people of the mines have to pay a high
price for their barley straw, and are not willing to give it to every stray
traveller. At 2 p. m. we arrived at the highest point of the road, called the
pass of Antarangra, or copper rock. (The pass of the Piedra Parada, or
standing rock, which passes by the mines of Yauli, crosses a few miles to
our right.) Some scattering mosses lay on a hill-side above us; but Gibbon
and I spurred our panting and trembling mules to the summit of the hill, and
had nothing around us but snow, granite, and dark gray porphyry.
I was disappointed in the view from this place. The peaks of the
Cordillera that were above us looked low, and presented the appearance of a
hilly country, at home, on a winter-day; while the contrast between the
snowy hills and the bright green of lower ranges, together with the view of

the placid little lakes which lie so snug and still in their midst, gave an air of
quiet beauty to the scene very distinct from the savage and desolate
grandeur I had expected.
Gibbon, with the camera lucida, sketched the Cordillera. I expended a
box of matches in boiling the snow for the atmospheric pressure; and poor
Richards lay shivering on the ground, enveloped in our pillons, a martyr to
the veta.
Veta is the sickness caused by the rarity of the atmosphere at these
great elevations. The Indians call it veta, or vein, because they believe it is
caused by veins of metal diffusing around a poisonous infection. It is a
remarkable thing, that, although this affection must be caused by absence of
atmospheric pressure, yet in no case except this, (and Richards was ill
before,) that I have known or read of, has it been felt at the greatest
elevation, but always at a point below this—sometimes on one side,
sometimes on the other. The affection displays itself in a violent headache,
with the veins of the head swollen and turgid a difficulty of respiration, and
cold extremities. The smell of garlic is said to alleviate the symptoms; and
the arrieros generally anoint their cattle over the eyes, and on the forehead,
with an unguent made of tallow, garlic, and wild marjoram, as a preventive,
before attempting the ascent. I did not observe that our animals were
affected, though they trembled and breathed hard, which, I think, was
attributable to the steepness of the hill up which we rode. The barometer
stood at 16.730, indicating an elevation of sixteen thousand and forty-four
feet. Water boiled at 182°.5; temperature of the air, 43°.
The road hence is cut along the flank of the mountain, at whose base
lies a pretty little lake. The hacienda of Morococha is situated on the banks
of a second, which communicates with it; and this again pours its waters, by
a small and gentle stream, into a third, below. These are, respectively,
Huacracocha, or Horn lake; Morococha, or Painted lake, (from the variety
of colors which its placid surface reflects from the red, green, and yellow of
the surrounding mountains;) and Huascacocha, or Rope lake.
Though not yet sixty miles from the sea, we had crossed the great
"divide" which separates the waters of the Atlantic from those of the
Pacific. The last steps of our mules had made a striking change in our

geographical relations; so suddenly and so quickly had we been cut off from
all connexion with the Pacific, and placed upon waters that rippled and
sparkled joyously as they danced by our feet to join the glad waves of the
ocean that wash the shores of our own dear land. They whispered to me of
home, and my heart went along with them. I thought of Maury, with his
researches concerning the currents of the sea; and, recollecting the close
physical connexion pointed out by him as existing between these—the
waters of the Amazon and those of our own majestic Mississippi—I
musingly dropped a bit of green moss, plucked from the hill-side, upon the
bosom of the placid lake of Morococha; and as it floated along I followed it,
in imagination, down through the luxurious climes, the beautiful skies, and
enchanting scenery of the tropics, to the mouth of the great river; thence
across the Carribbean sea, through the Yucatan pass, into the Gulf of
Mexico; thence along the Gulf-stream; and so out upon the ocean, off the
shores of the "Land of Flowers." Here I fancied it might meet with silent
little messengers cast by the hands of sympathizing friends and countrymen
high up on the head-waters of the Mississippi, or away in the "Far West,"
upon the distant fountains of the Missouri.
It was, indeed, but a bit of moss floating on the water; but as I mused,
fancy, awakened and stimulated by surrounding circumstances, had already
converted it into a skiff manned by fairies, and bound upon a mission of
high import, bearing messages of peace and good-will, telling of commerce
and navigation, of settlement and civilization, of religious and political
liberty, from the "King of Rivers" to the "Father of Waters;" and, possibly,
meeting in the Florida pass, and "speaking," through a trumpet louder than
the tempest, spirits sent down by the Naiads of Lake Itaska, with greetings
to Morococha.
I was now, for the first time, fairly in the field of my operations. I had
been sent to explore the Valley of the Amazon, to sound its streams, and to
report as to their navigability. I was commanded to examine its fields, its
forests, and its rivers, that I might gauge their capabilities, active and
dormant, for trade and commerce with the States of Christendom, and make
known to the spirit and enterprise of the age the resources which lie in
concealment there, waiting for the touch of civilization and the breath of the
steam-engine to give them animation, life, and palpable existence.

Before us lay this immense field, dressed in the robes of everlasting
summer, and embracing an area of thousands upon thousands of square
miles on which the footfall of civilized man had never been heard. Behind
us towered, in forbidding grandeur, the crests and peaked summits of the
Andes, clad in the garb of eternal winter. The contrast was striking, and the
field inviting. But who were the laborers? Gibbon and I. We were all. The
rest were not even gleaners. But it was well. The expedition had been
planned and arranged at home with admirable judgment and consummate
sagacity; for, had it been on a grand scale, commensurate with its
importance, or even larger than it was, it would have broken down with its
own weight.
Though the waters where I stood were bound on their way to meet the
streams of our Northern Hemisphere, and to bring, for all the practical
purposes of commerce and navigation, the mouth of the Amazon and the
mouth of the Mississippi into one, and place it before our own doors; yet,
from the head of navigation on one stream to the head of navigation on the
other, the distance to be sailed could not be less than ten thousand miles.
Vast, many, and great, doubtless, are the varieties of climates, soils, and
productions within such a range. The importance to the world of settlement,
cultivation, and commerce in the Valley of the Amazon cannot be over-
estimated. With the climates of India, and of all the habitable portions of the
earth, piled one above the other in quick succession, tillage and good
husbandry here would transfer the productions of the East to this
magnificent river basin, and place them within a few days' easy sail of
Europe and the United States.
Only a few miles back we had first entered the famous mining district
of Peru. A large portion of the silver which constitutes the circulation of the
world was dug from the range of mountains upon which we are standing;
and most of it came from that slope of them which is drained off into the
Amazon. Is it possible for commerce and navigation up and down this
majestic water-course and its beautiful tributaries to turn the flow of this
silver stream from its western course to the Pacific, and conduct it with
steamers down the Amazon to the United States, there to balance the stream
of gold with which we are likely to be flooded from California and
Australia?

Questions which I could not answer, and reflections which I could not
keep back, crowded upon me. Oppressed with their weight, and the
magnitude of the task before me, I turned slowly and sadly away, secretly
lamenting my own want of ability, and sincerely regretting that the duty
before me had not been assigned to abler and better hands.

CHAPTER IV.
Mines of Morococha—A Yankee's house—Mountain of Puy-puy—Splendid view—Pachachaca—
Lava stream—Chain bridge at Oroya—Descent into the valley of Tarma—Tarma—American
physician—Customs—Dress—Religious observances—Muleteers and mules—General Otero—
Farming in the Sierra—Road to Chanchamayo—Perils of travel—Gold mines of Matichacra—
View of the Montaña—Fort San Ramon—Indians of Chanchamayo—Cultivation.

We arrived at Morococha at 5 p.m. This is a copper mining hacienda,
belonging to some German brothers named Pflücker, of Lima, who own,
also, several silver mines of the neighborhood. The copper and silver of
these mountains are intimately mixed; they are both got out by smelting,
though this operation, as far as regarded the silver, had been abandoned, and
they were now beginning the process of extracting the silver, by the mode
of grinding and washing—such as I have described at Párac—after having
tried the via humida (or method of washing in barrels, used in Saxony) and
failed.
The copper ore is calcined in the open air, in piles consisting of
alternate layers of ore and coal, which burn for a month. The ore thus
calcined is taken to ovens, built of brick imported from the United States,
and sufficient heat is employed to melt the copper, which runs off into
moulds below; the scoria being continually drawn off with long iron hoes.
The copper in this state is called exe; it has about fifty per cent. of pure
copper, the residue being silver, iron, &c., &c. It is worth fifteen cents the
pound in England, where it is refined. There is a mine of fine coal eighteen
miles from the hacienda, which yields an abundant supply. It is bituminous,
but hard, and of great brilliancy. The hacienda employs about one hundred
hands; more are desired, but they cannot be had at this time, because it is

harvest, and the Indians are gathering the corn, barley, and beans of the
valleys below. A man will get out about one thousand pounds of copper ore
in a day. I do not think the mines were at work during our stay; at least, I
saw or heard nothing of them. I could not either get statistics concerning the
yield of these mines or the cost of working them, and I thought that I
noticed some reserve upon this subject. The director told me that the silver
ore of this region was very rich, and spoke of specimens that yielded one
thousand, and even fifteen hundred, marks to the caxon.
The mining business of the hacienda is conducted by a director, an
intelligent and gentlemanly young German, named Richard Von Durfeldt;
and its fiscal affairs and general business, by an administrator, a fine-
looking young Spaniard, Don Jose Fco. de Lizarralde, whose kindly
courtesy we shall long remember. The engineer, or machinist, is my friend
and schoolmate Shepherd, who seemed to be a "Jack of all trades"—
blacksmith, carpenter, watch-maker, and doctor. His room was quite a
curiosity, and bespoke plainly enough the American. I never saw so many
different things gathered together in so small a place: shelves of fine
standard books; a dispensary for physic; all manner of tools, from the
sledge-hammer and the whip-saw to the delicate instruments of the watch-
maker; parts of watches lying under bell-glasses; engravings hanging
around the walls, with a great chart, setting forth directions for the
treatment of all manner of diseases and accidents; horse furniture, saddle-
bags, boots, shoes, and every variety of garment, from the heavy woollen
poncho of the man to the more delicate cotton petticoat of the woman; for
my friend has a pretty young Sierra wife, who took great pleasure in talking
to me about the home and relations of my "paisano." Shepherd's warm
room and bed, with plenty of covering, was a princely luxury in that cold
climate. These things are comparative, and I had not slept under a roof but
twice since I left Lima. An old Englishman from the Isle of Guernsey,
named Grant, who seemed to be a sort of factotum, and knew and did
everything, and who was unwearied in his kindness and attention to us,
made up the sum of our pleasant acquaintances at Morococha. We had beef
and mutton for dinner, with good butter and cheese; vegetables scarce;
Gibbon not well; Richards very sick, and under treatment from Shepherd.
June 3.—We all went to see the Mountain of Puy-puy, said to be higher
than Chimborazo. The place of view is about three miles from Morococha.

We passed the openings of a copper and silver mine, and rode along a
boggy country, where turf is cut for fuel. We saw many snipes, ducks, and
other aquatic birds. This upset all my preconceived notions; I had no idea
that I should see, at fifteen thousand feet above the level of the sea,
anything that would remind me of duck-shooting in the marshes of the
Rappahannock. To see the mountain, it was necessary to cross a range of
hills, about seven or eight hundred feet in height. The road went up
diagonally, but the ascent was the most toilsome operation I had ever
undertaken. We were obliged to dismount, when about three-fourths of the
way up, and lead the mules; the path was muddy and slippery, and we had
to stop to blow at every half-dozen steps. Gibbon declared that this was the
only occasion in which he had ever found the big spurs of the country of
any service; for when he slipped and fell, as we all frequently did, he said
that he should inevitably have gone to the bottom had he not dug his spurs
into the soil, and so held on. I think that I suffered more than any of the
party. On arriving at the top, I was fairly exhausted; I thought my heart
would break from my breast with its violent agitation, and I felt, for the first
time, how painful it was
"To breathe
The difficult air of the iced mountain's top."

I soon recovered, however, and was amply repaid by the splendor of the
view. The lofty cone-shaped mountain, clad in its brilliant mantle from the
top even to the cylindrical base upon which it rested, rose in solitary
majesty from the plain beneath us; and when the sunlight, bursting from the
clouds, rested upon its summit, it was beautiful, indeed. Gibbon almost
froze taking a sketch of it; and the rest of us tired ourselves nearly to death
endeavoring to get a shot at a herd of shy vicuñas that were seen feeding
among the distant rocks. We had a fatiguing ride, and enjoyed a late dinner
and a good night's rest.
June 4.—We took leave of our hospitable friends, (whom I could no
longer intrude our large party upon,) and started at meridian, leaving
Richards too sick to travel. We rode down the "Valley of the Lakes" in
about an E. N. E. direction, visiting the silver mining hacienda of Tuctu as
we passed, which belongs to the establishment of Morococha. We travelled

over a heavy rolling country; the southern sides of the hills clothed with
verdure, and affording tolerable pasture; the northern sides bare and rocky
—no trees or bushes. About nine miles from Morococha, we crossed a
range of hills to the right, and entered the village of Pachachaca.
This is situated in a valley that comes down from Yauli. The stream of
the Valley of the Lakes at this place joins with the larger and very
serpentine stream of the Yauli valley. This valley has a flat and apparently
level floor of half a mile in width, affording a carriage-road of two or three
miles in length. There is a hacienda for smelting silver here; but having no
letters, and but little time, (for the arriero begins very justly to complain that
we are delaying him an unreasonable time upon the road,) I did not visit it.
Pachachaca is a small village of two hundred inhabitants. The people
seem more industrious than those of the villages on the other side. There are
fine crops of barley here, and we saw cabbages, onions, peaches, and eggs,
in the shops. We were greater objects of curiosity in this place than we had
been before. The people, I believe, took us for peddlers, and the woman
from whom we got our supper and breakfast seemed offended because we
would not sell her some candles, and importuned Gibbon for the sale of his
straw hat. The men wore short woollen trousers, buttoned at the knee,
together with, generally, two pair of long woollen stockings. The woollen
articles of clothing are woven in this neighborhood, except the ponchos,
which come from Tarma. Printed cottons from Lima sell for eighteen and
three-quarter cents the vara, (33 inches;) a cup and saucer of the commonest
ware are held at thirty-seven and a half cents, but purchasers are few;
sewing-cotton, a dollar the pound. Shoes come from Jauxa; also candles and
potatoes. Fuel is the "taquia," or dried cattle manure. Gibbon and I had
occasion afterwards to laugh at our fastidiousness in objecting to a mutton-
chop broiled upon a coal of cow-dung.
June 5.—We travelled down the valley about east. At about one and a
half mile we passed a very curious-looking place, where a small stream
came out of a valley to the northward and westward, and spread itself over a
flat table-rock, soft and calcareous. It poured over this rock in a sort of
horse-shoe cataract, and then spread over an apparently convex surface of
this same soft rock, about two hundred and fifty yards wide, crossing the
valley down which we were travelling. This rock sounded hollow under the

feet of the mules, and I feared we should break through at every instant. I
am confident it was but a thin crust; and, indeed, after crossing it, we
observed a clear stream of water issuing from beneath it, and flowing into
the road on the farther side. We saw another such place a little lower down,
only the stream tumbled, in a variety of colored streaks, principally white,
like salt, over the metallic-looking rock, into the rivulet below. I presume
there must have been some volcano near here, and that this rock is lava, for
it had all the appearance of having once been liquid.

Lt. Gibbon del. Wagner & McGuigan's Lith. Phila.

HACIENDA DE MAYOC.
Pl. 3.

Lt. Gibbon del. Wagner & McGuigan's Lith. Phila.

SAN MATEO.
Pl. 4.

Lt. Gibbon del. Wagner & McGuigan's Lith. Phila.

CORDILLERA FROM THE HIGHEST POINT OF THE ROUTE.
Pl. 5.

Lt. Gibbon del. Wagner & McGuigan's Lith. Phila.

MOUNT PUYPUY.
Pl. 6.

The valley about two miles from Pachachaca is cut across by rocky
hills. Here we turned to the northward and eastward. The country at first
offered some pasturage, but became more barren as we advanced, only
showing, now and then, some patches of barley. We travelled till noon on
the left bank of the Yauli stream, when we crossed it by a natural bridge, at
a little village of a few huts, called Saco. At half-past two, after a ride over a
stony and dusty plain, bordered on each side by rocky mountains, we
arrived at the bridge of Oroya. This is a chain suspension bridge, of about
fifty yards in length, and two and a half in breadth, flung over the river of
Jauxa, which is a tributary of the Ucayali. The Yauli stream, into which
emptied the stream from the lakes at Morococha, joins this river here, and
this is the connexion that I spoke of between those lakes, near the very
summit of the Andes and the Atlantic ocean.
The bridge consisted of four chains, of about a quarter of an inch
diameter, stretched horizontally across the river from strong stone-work on
each side. These are interlaced with thongs of hide; sticks of about one and

a half inch in diameter are laid across them and lashed down, forming a
floor. Two other chains are stretched across about four feet above these, and
connected with them by thongs of hide; these serve for balustrades, and
would prevent a mule from jumping off. The bridge was about fifty feet
above the water when we passed. It seemed very light, and rocked and
swayed under the motion of the mules in crossing it. The heavy cargoes are
taken off and carried over on the shoulders of the bridge-keeper and his
assistants. The toll is twelve and a half cents the mule; and the same, the
cargo. The bridge-ward seemed astonished, and somewhat annoyed, when I
told him that one of the cargoes, which he left on the mule, was the heaviest
I had, being a box filled with bags of shot, balls, and powder, together with
the specimens of ore and rocks we had collected.
The river at this place turns from its southern course and runs to the
eastward, by the village of Oroya, where we camped. This village contains
about one hundred inhabitants, though we saw only five or six men; most of
the male inhabitants being away to the harvest on the plains above. The
women seemed nearly all to be employed in spinning wool; holding the
bundle of wool in the left hand and spinning it out by a hanging broach.
Very few of them spoke Spanish, but a corrupt Quichua, or language of the
Incas. We bought barley straw for the mules, and got a beef chupe, with
eggs and roasted potatoes, for ourselves. We saw some small trees within
the deserted enclosures where houses had been, bearing a very fragrant
flower, something resembling the heliotrope, but much larger, and tinged
with a reddish color. We also saw flocks of sheep, but got no mutton for
dinner.
June 6.—Got under way at 9 a. m., steering N. N. E., and making a
considerable ascent for about two miles. We then rode over a plain, with
rolling hills on each side, covered with a short grass, giving pasturage to
large flocks of sheep and some cows. The road then rose again, taking our
column of mercury in the barometer out of sight, till half-past eleven, when
we stood at the head of a ravine leading down to the valley of Tarma. The
height of this spot above the level of the sea was eleven thousand two
hundred and seventy feet. We rode down this ravine, north, for three-
quarters of an hour, and at an angle to the horizon of full thirty degrees. The
road was filled with fragments of white calcareous rock, and the rocky hills
on each side were pierced with many a cavern. When nearly at the foot, the

plants and flowers familiar to us on the other side began to make their
appearance, and in such quick succession, that it seemed that an hour's ride
carried us over many a mile of the tedious ascent to the westward of the
mountains. First appeared the hardy little flowers of the heights above San
Mateo; then, the barley; the alfalfa; the Indian corn; beans; turnips; shrubs,
becoming bushes; bushes, trees; flowers growing larger and gayer in their
colors, (yellow predominating,) till the pretty little city of Tarma,
embosomed among the hills, and enveloped in its covering of willows and
fruit trees, with its long lawns of alfalfa (the greenest of grasses) stretching
out in front, broke upon our view. The ride of to-day was a long and
tiresome one, being mostly a bone-shaking descent; and we hailed with
pleasure the sight of the little town as a resting place, after the tedious
passage of the Cordillera, and felt that one of the inconveniences and perils
of the expedition was safely and happily passed.
We arrived at 4 p. m., and rode straight to the house of a gentleman,
Don Lorenzo Burgos, to whom I brought a letter of introduction from friend
Shepherd, of Morococha; which letter contained the modest request that
Don Lorenzo should place his house at my disposal. This he acceded to
without hesitation, removing his sick wife, in spite of remonstrance, into
another room, and giving us his hall for our baggage, and his chamber for
our sleeping room. This I would not have acceded to, except that this is not
Don Lorenzo's place of residence, but a new house which he is constructing
here, and which he is only staying at for a few days till his wife is able to
travel to their regular place of residence. There is no public house in the
town, and it is customary to take travellers in. When I (next morning)
presented a letter of introduction from the Bishop of Eretria to the Cura of
Tarma, his first question was, "Where are you lodged?" And when I told
him, he seemed annoyed, and said that I had not treated him properly in not
coming to his house. Don Lorenzo gave us some dinner, and we slept well
after the fatigues of the day.
Tarma, a town of some seven thousand inhabitants, belonging to the
province of Pasco and department of Junin, is beautifully situated in an
amphitheatre of mountains, which are clothed nearly to the top with waving
fields of barley. The valley in front, about half a mile wide, and two miles
long, appears level, and is covered with the greenest and richest pasturage.
Its borders are fringed with fruit trees; and the stream which waters it

plunges, in a beautiful little cataract, of some thirty feet in height, over a
ledge of rocks at the farther end. Its climate is delicious; and it is the resort
of sickly people from Lima, and the cold and inclement mining districts,
who find comfort and restoration in its pure atmosphere and mild and
equable temperature. I was told, although the district contains nearly twenty
thousand inhabitants, and its villages are close together, and easily
accessible, that it could not, of itself, support a physician, and that the
government had to appropriate the tax on spirits, and the surplus revenue of
the bridge at Oroya, to this purpose. A young American physician, recently
established in Tarma, gave me this account; but said that not even this had
been sufficient to keep one here; that the custom had, therefore, fallen into
desuetude, and that he was then engaged, with hope of success, in
endeavoring to have this appropriation renewed and paid over to him.
I cannot vouch for this story. It has an apocryphal sound to me. I only
know that it is a very healthy place, and that my medical friend is a person
of repute there. When I proposed to carry him off with me, the ladies of my
acquaintance raised a great outcry, and declared that they could not part
with their Medico. I think there is no apothecary's shop in Tarma, for I
supplied the Doctor with some medicines, those which he had brought from
Lima being nearly exhausted. I am satisfied, though there are so few
diseases, that a good-looking young graduate of medicine, who would go
there with money enough to buy him a horse, might readily marry a pretty
girl of influential family, and soon get a practice that would enrich him in
ten years. I afterwards knew a young American at Cerro Pasco, who, though
not a graduate, and I believe scarcely a student of medicine, was in high
repute as a doctor, and had as much practice as he could attend to; but who,
like several of our countrymen whom I met abroad, was dissipated and
reckless, and, as he himself expressed it, "slept with the pump."
The houses of Tarma are built of adobe; and the better sort are
whitewashed within and without; floored with gypsum and tiled. The wood
and iron work is of the rudest possible description, although the former,
from the Montaña of Chanchamayo, is pretty and good. The doors of the
house we are living in very much resemble "birds-eye maple." Some of the
houses are partially papered, and carpeted with common Scotch carpeting.
Most of them have patios, or enclosed squares, within, and some of them

flat roofs, with a parapet around them, where maize, peas, beans, and such
things, are placed in the sun to dry.
Sunday is the great market-day, and the market-place is filled with
country people, who come in to sell their manufactures of ponchos,
blankets, shoes, hats, (made of the vicuña wool,) &c., and to buy coca,
cotton goods, and agua diente, as well as to attend mass and get drunk. It is
quite a busy and animated scene. The men are generally dressed in tall
straw hats, ponchos, breeches, buttoned at the knee, and long woollen
stockings; the women, in a blue woollen skirt, tied around the waist, and
open in front, to show a white cotton petticoat, the shoulders covered with a
mantle consisting of two or three yards of gay-colored plush, called "Bayeta
de Castilla," or Spanish baize. Everything foreign in this country is called
"de Castilla," (of Castile;) as in Brazil, it is called "da Rainha," (of the
Queen.) The skirt of a lady of higher quality consists of a colored print, or
mousseline. She rarely, unless dressed for company, takes the trouble to put
on the body of her dress, which hangs down behind, and is covered with a
gay shawl, passed around the bust, with the end thrown gracefully over the
left shoulder. The hair, particularly on Sundays, is in perfect order; parted in
the middle, and hanging down in two plaits behind. It is surmounted by a
very neat, low-crowned straw-hat, the crown being nearly covered with a
broad ribbon; and she is always "bien calzada," (well shod.) The women are
generally large and well developed; not very pretty, but with amiable, frank,
and agreeable manners; they have, almost invariably, a pleasant smile, with
an open and engaging expression of countenance.
Religion flourishes in Tarma; and the Cura seems to have a busy time
of it; though it is said he is cheated of half his rights in the way of marriage
fees. I think that no day passed while we were here that there was not a
"fiesta" of the church; for, although there are not more than twenty-five or
thirty feast days in the year insisted upon by the church and the
government, yet any piously-disposed person may get up one when he
pleases. The manner seems to be this: A person, either from religious
motives or ostentation, during or after Divine service in the church,
approaches the altar, and, kissing one of its appendages, (I forget which,)
proclaims his intention of becoming mayordomo or superintendent of such
and such a fiesta—generally that of the Saint after whom he is named, and
thereupon receives the benediction of the priest. This binds him and his

heirs to all the expenses of the celebration, which, in the great functions in
Lima, may be set down at no small matter—the heaviest item being the
lighting of one of those large churches from floor to dome with wax. The
jewels and other adornments of the images borne in procession are
generally borrowed from the devout Señoras of the higher and richer class;
but I am told that many a person impoverishes his family for years by
paying the expenses of one of these festivals.
The fiestas in Tarma are generally celebrated with music, ringing of
bells, firing of rockets, and dances of Indians. A dozen vagabonds are
dressed in what is supposed to be the costume of the ancient Indians. This
consists of a red blanket hanging from one shoulder, and a white one from
the other, reaching nearly to the knee, and girded around the waist; the usual
short blue breeches, with a white fringe at the knee; stockings of an
indifferent color, and shoes or sandals of raw-hide, gathered over the toes
with a draw-string, and tied around the ankles. The head-dress is a low
crowned, broad-brimmed round hat, made of wool, and surrounded with a
circlet of dyed feathers of the ostrich. Thus costumed, the party march
through the streets, and stop every now and then to execute a sort of dance
to the melancholy and monotonous music of a reed pipe, accompanied by a
rude flat drum—both in the hands of the same performer. Each man has a
stick or club, of hard wood, and a very small wooden or hide shield, which
he strikes with the club at certain periods of the dance, making a low
clattering in time with the music. They have also small bells, called
"cascabeles," attached to the knees and feet, which jingle in the dance. They
and their company of Indians and Mestizos smell very badly on a near
approach. Connected with this there is a great deal of riot and drunkenness;
and I felt annoyed that the church should patronize and encourage so
demoralizing a procedure. The secular clergy of Peru, with a few honorable
exceptions, have not a high character, if one is to believe the stories told of
them by their own countrymen; and I had occasion to observe that the
educated young men, as well of Chili as of Peru, generally spoke of them in
terms of great contempt. I judge that the case is different with the clergy of
the monastic orders, particularly the missionaries. Those I met with were
evidently men of high character; and to their zeal, energy, and ability, Peru
owes the conquest of by far the largest and richest part of the republic. It

happens, unfortunately for the Peruvian character, that nearly all of these
are foreigners—generally Spaniards and Italians.
June 7.—I suffered all day with violent pain in the head and limbs,
from the ride of yesterday. These Peruvian saddles, though good for the
beasts, and for riding up and down hill, stretch the legs so far apart as for a
long time to give the unaccustomed rider severe pains in the muscles of the
thighs; and I had to ride a large portion of the distance with my leg over the
pommel, like a lady.
We paid off and parted with the arriero, Pablo Luis Arredondo. I did not
find him so great a rascal as I expected; for, except the disposition to get all
out of me he could, (which was very natural,) and an occasional growl,
(which was also to be expected,) I had no reason to be dissatisfied with
Luis. Ijurra was always quarrelling with him; but I think Ijurra has the fault
of his countrymen generally, and wants the temper and patience necessary
to manage ignorant people. By soft words and some bribery, I got along
well enough with the old fellow; and he loaded his mules beyond their usual
cargoes, and drove them along very well. I was frequently astonished at the
difficulties they surmounted, loaded as they were. The usual load is two
hundred and sixty pounds; and these animals of ours, with, I am sure, in
some instances, a heavier load, and of a most incongruous and
heterogeneous description, ascended hills and descended valleys which one
would scarcely think an unloaded mule could travel over. Our riding mules
were perfect treasures. Sure-footed, steady, strong, and patient, they bore us
along easily and with comfort; and Gibbon says that he will part with his
with tears, when we are compelled to give them up and take to the boats.
The market at Tarma is tolerably good, though the meat is badly
butchered. Beef costs six cents a pound; a small leg of mutton, eighteen and
three-quarter cents; good potatoes, nearly a dollar a bushel; cauliflowers,
three small heads for twelve and a half cents; oranges, pineapples, and
peaches are abundant and cheap, but not good; bread, very good, is baked in
small loaves, by a Frenchman, four for twelve and a half cents; flour comes
from Jauxa; eggs are ten cents a dozen.
We had a visit from the Cura, and went to see the sub prefect of the
province, a gentleman named Mier, who promised me such assistance as I

needed in my visit to Chanchamayo. Both of these gentlemen earnestly
deprecated the idea of trusting myself and party among the "Chunchos"
Indians on the other side of the river Chanchamayo, saying that they were
very hostile to the whites, and dangerous. The Cura promised to look out
for a servant for us. We had visits, also, from several gentlemen of the town;
among them a Señor Cardenas, who gave me a copy of the memorial of
Urrutia. All seemed much interested in my expedition to Chanchamayo, and
hoped a favorable report.
June 11.—We rode about a league down the valley which leads to
Chanchamayo, to the farm of General Otero, to whom we brought letters
from Mr. Prevost, and Pasquel, bishop of Eretrea. We found this farm a
different sort of affair from anything we had hitherto seen in this way in our
travels. This is in a high state of cultivation, well enclosed with mud walls,
and in beautiful order. The General—a good looking, farmer-like old
gentleman—met us with great cordiality, and showed us over the premises.
He has a very large house, with all the necessary offices attached, which he
built himself. Indeed, he said he had made the farm; for when he purchased
it, it was a stony and desolate place, and he had expended much time, labor,
and money on it. There were two gardens: one for vegetables and fruit, and
one for flowers. They were both in fine order. The fruits were peaches of
various kinds, apples, strawberries, almonds, and some few grapes. The
flowers were principally roses, pinks, pansies, jessamines, and geraniums.
There were a few exotics, under bell-glasses. Both fruit and flowers were of
rather indifferent quality, but much better than one would expect to see in so
elevated and cold a situation. The nights here, particularly in the early
morning, are quite cold.
This is the harvest season, and the General was gathering his crop of
maize. About twenty peons or laborers were bringing it in from the fields,
and throwing it down in piles in a large court-yard, while boys and women
were engaged in "shucking" it. In one corner of the square, under a snug
little shed attached to one of the barns, with stone seats around it, sat the
General's three daughters, sewing, and probably superintending the
"shucking." They were fair, sweet-looking girls. The General had a tray of
glasses, with some Italia (a cordial made of a Muscatel grape that grows in
the province of Ica, and hence called Ica brandy) and paper cigars, brought
out for us; and the whole concern had a home look that was quite pleasing.

I cannot give a good idea of farming in this country, for want of
information of the value of land; this depending so entirely on its situation
and condition. The mountain sides are so steep, and the valleys so rocky,
that I imagine there is no great deal of cultivable land in all this district, and
therefore it is probably high. According to Gen. Otero, land here is
measured by "tongos," which is a square of thirty-three varas. (A vara is
thirty-three English inches.) Three tongos make a "yuntada," or as much as
it is calculated that a yoke of oxen can plough in a day. About half an
arroba, or twelve and a half pounds of seed, is planted to the tongo. In
maize, the yield is between forty-five and fifty for one. Wheat yields about
forty for one, but is so subject to the rust as to be an uncertain crop, and is
therefore little cultivated. The price of maize is five dollars the carga or
mule-load, of two hundred and sixty pounds. From these data it appears,
then, that an acre will yield about forty-three bushels, which is worth one
dollar and twenty-five cents the bushel. Quantities of barley are cultivated
on the mountain sides, but the grain does not come to perfection, and it is
generally cut green for fodder; though the General says that it is not good
for that, the straw being coarse and hard. Potatoes are a good crop; they are
worth now in Tarma one dollar and fifty cents the hundred pounds, and in
times of scarcity have been known to run up as high as seven dollars. One
of the principal articles of food of the laborers of this country is "cancha,"
or toasted maize. They mix a little lime with the grains before putting them
in the hot ashes, which makes them whiter and improves their flavor. It is
really very sweet and good, and I liked it better than the green corn roasted,
which is such a favorite dish with us. Chicha, a fermented liquor, is also
made from Indian corn, and much drunk by all classes. The General gave us
some that he had prepared and bottled himself. It was very good, rose-
colored, and sparkled like Champagne. He told us that our corn, which he
called "mais morocha," was not so good as this for making either cancha or
chicha; this being softer and sweeter.
We visited the stables, which were very clean, and paved, and
contained some ten or fifteen fine-looking young horses; and there were
thirty or forty more, mares and colts, in a spacious corral or enclosure near,
with an American farrier from Tarma attending to some of them. There is
also a neat little chapel occupying a corner of the "patio," with the
inscription over the door, "Domus mea, domus orationis est." It was neatly

papered and carpeted, and had colored prints of the "Stations" hung around
the walls. The altar-piece was a figure of our Lady of Mercy, with the
figures of St. Francis and St. Peter on each side; these Saints being the
patrons of the general and his lady, Don Francisco and Doña Pedronilla.
The General's manners were exceedingly courteous and affable; and he
possessed that suavity and gentleness of bearing that seems to me always to
characterize the military man of high rank when in retirement. The whole
establishment reminded me of one of our best kept Virginia farms, where
the owner had inherited the homestead of his father, and was in easy
circumstances.
June 12.—Dined with our countryman, Dr. Buckingham, and a couple
of young ladies, one of whom seemed to be his housekeeper. The dinner
was after the Peruvian fashion: first, a sort of thick soup; then, roasted ribs
of mutton, served with salad; this succeeded by a dish of stewed Guinea
pigs, mixed with a variety of vegetables, and which would have been very
good but for the addition of a quantity of aji, or red pepper, which made it
unendurable to the unaccustomed palate; winding up with the invariable
chupe, and the invariable dessert of dulces, or sweetmeats. A Limenian
never thinks of taking water during dinner, and always eats sweetmeats
after dinner, that he may then safely take water; so that "Tomar dulces, para
beber agua" is a sort of dietetic proverb with them.
June 13.—Rode out on the Oroya road, with the intention of visiting a
cave, or what is reported to be a subterraneous passage made by the Incas,
and reaching as far as Jauxa, twenty-seven miles; but, after riding about five
miles, we determined that we were too late to explore the cave for that day,
and meeting Richards, from Morococha, we turned back. I suspect that this
cave is nothing more than the cañon, or opening, of some long-deserted
mine.
June 14.—Rode out to the southward, in the direction of Jauxa. This
valley, which rises very rapidly, is thickly settled, and well cultivated. Road
bad. Another valley debouches from this, about four miles above Tarma, to
the southward and eastward, leading to the Montaña of Vitoc.
June 15.—Had a long visit from General Otero. The vivacious old
gentleman discoursed very pleasantly. He said that it was difficult to get at

the population of the town proper, the census being generally taken of the
Doctrina, or district over which the Cura had religious jurisdiction; that this
was about ten or twelve thousand, of which one-twelfth part were pure
white, about one-half Mestizos, (descendants of whites and Indians,) and
the balance Indians, there being very few negroes. I asked him to account
for the number of blind people we had noticed in the streets. He said that
most of the blind people came from Jauxa, in which country much wheat
and barley are produced; that they sifted these grains, and got rid of the
chaff by throwing them up in the air, and he believed that the blindness
arose from the irritation caused by the chaff and barbs flying into the eyes
of the people who sifted.
He also said that he thought I should not attempt to cross the
Chanchamayo amongst the Indians, for that I would not be able to defend
myself against their attacks; but thought that, if I wished to descend the
Ucayali, I had better take a more southern tributary, called the Pangoa; (this
is Biedma's route, by Andamarca and Sonomora;) that there the Indians
were not so much irritated against the whites, and that the river was known
to be navigable for canoes, for he himself had known a friar of Ocopa who,
in 1817, had descended it for the conversion of the Indians of the Ucayali,
and had afterwards established a missionary station at Andamarca, where
the Indians came at stated periods to be baptized and receive presents of
hatchets, knives, beads, &c., but that, on the occasion of the war in 1824,
the supplies had been stopped, and the Indians would come no more. He, as
did the sub-prefect, liked my idea of ascending from the mouth of the
Ucayali, with a properly-equipped Indian force, and looking into the
navigability of the Perené and Chanchamayo that way.
The latitude of Tarma, by mean of Mer. altitudes of α and β Centauri, is
11° 25' 05" S.
June 16.—We left Tarma for the Chanchamayo. This is the first time I
have applied to authority for the means of locomotion. I did it inadvertently,
and was sorry for it; for, though I would probably have been cheated in the
price, yet I should not have been the cause of injustice and oppression. I had
said to the sub-prefect, a few days before, that I wanted the means of
transportation for some baggage to Chanchamayo, which he promised to
furnish me. Yesterday I went to ask for it for to-day, and he referred me to

the governor of the district, who was present, and who told me that he
would have what I required—viz: two asses and a saddle mule, with two
peons—ready by to-morrow morning. Accordingly, this morning he sent for
me, and presented to me the owner of the mule, the owner of the asses, and
the two peons. The wages of these were to be four reals, or half a dollar, a
day; and I paid each three dollars in advance. To the governor I paid a dollar
for each ass, and two for the mule, with the understanding that I was to pay
as much more on my return. The peons were then lectured on their duties,
and sent round to my house with an escort of half a dozen alguaziles, or
constables, armed with sticks, to prevent their escaping or getting drunk
before the start. The asses and mules were also sent round under a similar
guard, so that my patio seemed filled with a clamorous multitude, who
created such a confusion that I had to turn out all but my own people. I
ordered these to load up; but they said that the owners of the asses had sent
no lassos, or thongs, to bind on the burdens; and I soon discovered that
there was a general unwillingness for the job, and that the governor had
pressed the animals into the service against the will of the owners.
Strong efforts were made to get the mule away from me. The woman of
the house, who, it appears, was a sister of the owner, advised me not to take
it; and said that it was a bad, vicious animal, that would do me a mischief. I
was surprised at this, as he looked particularly docile; and I directed my
new servant (one recommended by the Cura, and who looked twice as
vicious as the mule) to mount and ride him around the patio. The fellow
grinned maliciously, and proved my judgment correct. Finding this would
not do, the owner (who had put his sister up to making this attempt) then
came forward, and said I must pay him half a dollar more, as the governor
had kept back that much of the price. This being "no go," he tried to steal
away his mule while our backs were turned; but being prevented, he went
off, got drunk in about fifteen minutes, and came back maudlin; embracing,
kissing, and weeping over his mule, crying in piteous tones "Mi macho, mi
macho," (my mule, my mule.) We shoved him aside and rode off, followed,
I have no doubt, by the curses of the community.
This was all very annoying to me. I afterwards mentioned these
circumstances to the commandant of the fort at Chanchamayo, telling him
how much I would prefer to pay double price and get voluntary service. He
said that my sympathies were all thrown away upon these people, that I

must go to the governors for the means of transportation; for that the
Indians would not let me have their beasts at any price; and related
instances of his having to use threats, and even force, to induce a sulky
Indian to give him and his beast food and shelter when in the Cordillera,
and the approach of night made it impossible to go on. Several travellers in
these parts have also told me that they have been compelled to shoot the
poultry of an Indian, who with a large stock, would refuse to sell at any
price; but who, after the thing was done, would good humoredly accept a
fair value.
Ijurra also related instances of oppression and tyranny on the part of the
governors, particularly in the province of Mainas, where commerce is
carried on by transportation of the goods on the backs of Indians. A
travelling merchant goes to the governor and says, "I have such and such a
cargo; I want so many Indians to transport it." The governor, generally a
white or Mestizo, sends for the Curaca, (the lineal hereditary governor of
the tribe of Indians of that district, who has great authority, and without
whose assistance the whites probably could not govern at all,) and orders
him to have so many Indians detailed for a journey. The Curaca drums them
up, directing them to toast their corn and prepare their "fiambre" (food for
the road) for a journey of so many leagues; and they are taken from their
occupations and sent off, for probably many days, at a pay of anything that
the governor may direct.
If a man wishes to build a house or open a farm, he may be supplied
with laborers for six months, at a hire, per month, of as many yards of
cotton cloth as will make each a shirt and pair of trousers; the patron or
master furnishing them with food; but, as may be imagined, this is of the
coarsest and commonest description that will support life.
It would seem that men could never improve under a system of such
absolute slavery as this; yet to give them liberty, is to abandon them and
return them to a state of barbarity, shutting out all prospect of improvement;
and the only hope seems to be in the justice and moderation of the rulers—a
slim hope here.
We got off at noon; stopped at the "chacra" of Gen. Otero, and received
a letter of introduction to the commandant of the fort. When the old

gentleman saw our new servant "Mariano," he crossed himself most
devoutly, and ejaculated "Satanas!" He then told us that this was a
notoriously bad boy, whom nobody had been able to manage, but that we,
being strangers and military men, might get along with him by strictness
and severity; and he gave the boy a lecture upon his duties and the faithful
performance of them.
A mile and a half beyond Gen. Otero's is the town of Acobamba. I
judge that it contains twelve or fifteen hundred inhabitants; but it is situated
in a thickly-settled district, and the "Doctrina" is said to be more populous
than that of Tarma. Six more miles brought us to Palca, a straggling town of
about one thousand inhabitants. We merely passed through, and a mile
further on "brought up" at the chacra of Don Justo Rojas, to whom I had a
letter from Lizarralde, the administrator at Morococha. Don Justo was
engaged in extracting, by boiling, the juice of the rhatany root for an
apothecary of Lima. He supplied us with a capital supper of chicken soup
and boiled eggs, with alfalfa for the beasts. He also sold us, from his
establishment in town, sugar and bread. We pitched the tent in an old corn-
field, and slept delightfully. Tent-pegs for this country should be of iron.
Although those we used were made of the hardest wood that could be found
in Lima, we had used them all up by this time, beating off their heads by
driving them with a hatchet into the hard and stony ground.
Don Justo's is the last chacra in the valley, which now narrows, and
allows no room for cultivation. Though going down hill by the barometer,
we were evidently crossing a chain of mountains, which the stream at the
bottom of the valley has saved us the trouble of ascending and descending,
by cleaving a way through for itself, and leaving the mountains on either
hand towering thousands of feet above our heads. The ride was the wildest
we have yet had; the road sometimes finding room along the borders of the
river, and then ascending nearly to the top of the hills, and diminishing the
foaming and thundering stream to a noiseless, silver thread. The ascents and
descents were nearly precipitous; and the scene was rugged, wild, and grand
beyond description.
We saw some miserable huts on the road, and met a few asses carrying
reeds and poles from Chanchamayo. It seemed a providence that we did not
meet these at certain parts of the road, where it is utterly impossible for two

beasts to pass abreast, or for one to turn and retreat; and the only remedy is
to tumble one off the precipice, or to drag him back by the tail until he
reaches a place where the other can pass. Von Tschudi relates an instance of
his shooting a mule which met him at one of these places.
We met with a considerable fright in this way to-day. We were riding in
single file along one of these narrow ascents, where the road is cut out of
the mountain side, and the traveller has a perpendicular wall on one hand,
and a sheer precipice of many hundreds of feet upon the other. Mr. Gibbon
was riding ahead. Just as he was about to turn a sharp bend of the road the
head of a bull peered round it, on the descent. When the bull came in full
view he stopped, and we could see the heads of other cattle clustering over
his quarters, and hear the shouts of the cattle-drivers, far behind, urging on
their herd. I happened to be abreast of a slight natural excavation, or hollow,
in the mountain side, and dismounting I put my shoulder against my mule's
flank and pressed her into this friendly retreat; but I saw no escape for
Gibbon, who had passed it. The bull, with lowered crest, and savage, sullen
look, came slowly on, and actually got his head between the perpendicular
rock and the neck of Gibbon's mule. I felt a thrill of agony, for I thought my
companion's fate was sealed. But the sagacious beast on which he was
mounted, pressing her haunches hard against the wall, gathered her feet
close under her and turned as upon a pivot. This placed the bull on the
outside, (there was room to pass, though I did not believe it,) and he rushed
by at the gallop, followed in single file by the rest of the herd. I cannot
describe the relief I experienced. Gibbon, who is as gallant and fearless as
man can be, said "It is of no use to attempt to disguise the fact—I was badly
scared."
At 2 p. m., we arrived at a place called Matichacra, where there was a
single hut, inhabited by a woman and her child; the husband having gone to
Cerro Pasco to exhibit some specimens of gold ore which he had found
here. The woman was afflicted with an eruption on her face, which she
thought was caused by the metallic character of the earth around,
particularly the antimonial. She took a knife, and, digging earth from the
floor of her hut, washed it in a gourd, and showed us particles of metal like
gold sticking to the bottom. I showed some of this earth to General Otero,
who pronounced that there was no gold in it; but Lieutenant Maury, who
examined some that I brought home with a powerful magnifier, has

declared that there was. The mountains have an exceedingly metallic
appearance, and the woman said that there were still in the neighborhood
traces of the mining operations of the Spaniards.
About a mile and a half above Matichacra commenced the steep regular
descent of the mountain range, and from just above it we could discern
where the valley debouched upon an apparent plain, though bounded and
intersected by distant mountains, bearing and ranging in different
directions. This place we judged to be the "Montaña." We stopped an hour
at Matichacra, (Gourd Farm, from half a dozen gourd vines growing near
the house,) and made a chupe with a leg of mutton we had bought the night
before at Palca. We saw a few patches of Indian corn on the side of the
mountain opposite, and the tops of the mountains are clad with small trees.
We passed on five miles further, and camped on a level plat near the banks
of the stream, with bushes and small trees growing around us.
June 18.—This was the longest and hardest day's ride. The road was
very bad; rocky and rough where it descended the river, and steep and
difficult where it ascended the mountain side. We thought that the engineer
who planned and constructed the road had frequently "taken the bull by the
horns," and selected the worst places to run his road over; and that he would
have done much better had he occasionally have thrown a bridge across the
stream, and led the road along the flank of the mountains on the other side.
In seven and a half miles we arrived at Utcuyacu, (cotton water,) the first
hacienda where we saw sugar-cane, yucca, pine-apples, and plantains. It
had just been opened, and nothing yet had been sold from it.
The road, by which we had descended the valley of Chanchamayo,
turned at this place sharp to the right, and faced the mountains that divide
this valley from that of the Rio Seco. We were near the junction of the two
valleys, but a rock had fallen from the hills above and blocked up the road
on which we were travelling, so that we had to cross the mountain on our
right and get into the other valley. The ascent was steep, and trying to man
and beast. It is called the "Cuesta de Tangachuca," or "Hill of take care of
your hat," and is about three miles in length. The road, after passing through
a thick forest, brought us out upon a bald eminence, the termination of the
spur of the Andes that divides the two valleys. The rivers Seco and
Chanchamayo unite at its base and flow off through a valley, rapidly

widening out, covered with forests, and presenting an appearance entirely
distinct from the rocky and stern sterility that characterizes the country
above. This is the "Montaña" of which I had thought so much. I was
wofully disappointed in its appearance. I had taken the impression that I
should behold a boundless plain, alternating with forest and prairie, covered
with waving grass, and with a broad and gentle river winding its serpentine
course through it, between banks rich with the palm and plantain. In place
of this, the view from the mountain top showed a country broken still into
mountain and valley, (though on a much smaller scale than above,) shaggy
with trees and undergrowth of every description, and watered by a small
stream, still foaming and roaring over its rocky bed.
We descended the hill by a very circuitous and precipitous path, most
of us on foot, though it may be ridden over, for Mr. Gibbon did ride over
the worst parts of it, and only dismounted where a fallen tree made an
obstruction that he could not pass. The descent brought us to the rocky bed
of the Rio Seco, crossing which we were clear of the eastern chain of the
Andes and in the Montaña of Chanchamayo.
As far as the traveller is concerned there are not, on the route we have
travelled, two ranges of the Andes—that is, he has not to ascend and
descend one range, and then ascend and descend another. From the time he
crosses the Cordillera at Antarangra, his progress is downward till he
reaches the plain. Really there are two. The streams from the first, or
western range, have broken their way through the second, making deep
gorges, at the bottom of which the road generally runs, and leaves the peaks
of the second range thousands of feet above the head of the traveller.
A league from the crossing of the Rio Seco, we passed a bad and
broken bridge, that spans a small stream called "Punta Yacu," coming down
a valley from the southward, and halted at the hacienda of Don Jose Manuel
Cardenas, the first of the Montaña, where we camped for the night.
June 19.—Six miles of travel brought us to the fort of San Ramon. The
road is a black mud bridle-path through the woods, much obstructed with
the roots and branches of trees, but level. Comparatively few rocks are seen
after leaving Cardenas. We were kindly received by the commandant, Don

Juan Noel, a fine-looking young man, Captain of Frigate and Lieutenant
Colonel in the Army, and his officers, Major Umeres and Lieutenant ——.
Fort San Ramon is, by Mer. alt. of "γ Crusis," in latitude 11°.07 S. Its
height above the level of the sea, as given by barometer, is two thousand six
hundred and ten feet.
From the first of March to the last of August the climate is delightful;
but the heavy and almost continuous rains of the other six months of the
year make it disagreeable, but not unhealthy.
As we are now near the foot of the mountains, on the eastern slope, I
give a table of the distances and elevations of various points on the route.
The B. P. opposite some of the elevations show that these were indicated by
the temperature of boiling water:

Places. Distances. Height above the level of the sea.
Miles. Feet.
Callao ... ...
Lima 6 476
Pacayar 12 1,346
Yanacoto 10 2,337
Cocachacra 16 4,452
Moyoc 15 7,302
San Mateo 13 10,200
Acchahuarcu 9 12,898 B. P.
Pass of Antarangra 6 16,044
Pass of Antarangra 6 16,199 B. P.
Pachachaca 13 12,786 B. P.
Oroya 12 11,654
Oroya 12 11,825 B. P.
Tarma 18 9,738
Palca 11 8,512
Matichacra 12 7,091
Huacapishtana 4 5,687
Challuapuquio 12 3,192
Fort San Ramon 6 2,605
Fort San Ramon ... 2,953
The barometer gave the height of a point, four miles above Tarma, at
eleven thousand two hundred and seventy feet. So that there is a descent in
these four miles of distance of one thousand five hundred and thirty-five
feet. The ascent, however, between Acchahuarcu and the top of the hill on
which we observed, at the Pass of Antarangra, is steeper than this, being
three thousand three hundred and fifty-eight feet in six miles.
From Yanacoto, on the western slope of the Andes, to the top of the
Pass, is fifty-nine miles; from the top of the Pass to Fort San Ramon, on the
eastern slope, which is two hundred and seventy feet higher than Yanacoto,
is eighty-eight miles. This gives the ascent of the Andes, on its western
slope, at 232 feet to the mile, and on its eastern slope at 152.

Lt. Gibbon del. Wagner & McGuigan's Lith. Phila.

OROYA.
Pl. 7.

Lt. Gibbon del. Wagner & McGuigan's Lith. Phila.

TARMA.
Pl. 8.

Yanacoto is only twenty-eight miles from the ocean that washes the
base of the slope on which it is situated. Fort San Ramon, (at nearly the
same elevation as Yanacoto,) by the winding of the river, cannot be much
less than four thousand miles from its ocean, and in the direct course of the
river is at least two thousand five hundred miles. But I am of opinion, from
some observations made afterwards with a boiling-point apparatus, that the
indications of the barometer, at the eastern foot of the Andes, are not to be
depended upon; and that San Ramon has a greater elevation than is shown
by the barometer.
The fort is a stockade, embracing about six acres, armed with four brass
four-pounders, and garrisoned with forty-eight men. It is situated at the
junction of the rivers Chanchamayo and Tulumayo—the former about thirty
and the latter forty yards wide—both shallow and obstructed with rocks.
The current seemed about five or six miles the hour. A canoe, well
managed, might shoot down the Tulumayo as far as we saw it.

The fort was constructed in 1847, under the direction of President
Castilla, for the purpose of affording protection to the cultivators of the
farms in its rear. It doubtless does this against the unwarlike Indians of this
country; but I imagine that North American Indians, actuated by the
feelings of hostility which these people constantly evince, would cross the
rivers above the fort and sweep the plantations before the soldiers could
reach them. The Indians have abandoned all idea of reconquering the
territory they have lost, but are determined to dispute the passage of the
rivers and any attempt at further conquest. They never show themselves
now in person, but make their presence evident by occasionally setting fire
to the woods and grass on the hill-sides, and discharging their arrows at any
incautious person who may wander too near the banks of the rivers.
Noel told us that many attempts had been made to establish friendly
relations with them. In former times the Indians used to advance out of the
forest, to the further bank of the river, and hold conversations and exchange
presents with the officers of the post. They gave bows and arrows, rare
birds and animals, and received in return, knives, beads, and looking-
glasses. But these parleys always ended with expressions of defiance and
insult towards the whites on the part of the Indians, and frequently with a
flight of arrows.
He related to us, that a year or two ago a General Castillo, with some
officers, came to visit the fort, and wished to try their skill at negotiation.
Accordingly, whilst they were at dinner, the sentinel reported that an Indian
had made his appearance; whereupon the party rose from the table and went
down to the river-side to have a talk. The Indian, after salutations, made
signs for a looking-glass, which was thrown over to him; then, for a knife,
with which he was also gratified. He then asked for a tinder-box. There
being none at hand, Noel went up to his quarters for some. On his return, he
met an officer coming up the bank, with an arrow through his arm; and
shortly after, another, with one planted deep in his back, between the
shoulders. It appears that, as soon as the Indian had received his presents,
he drew his bow at the general. The party turned to fly; but a flight of
arrows from the forest wounded the two officers; and the one who was shot
in the back died of the wound eight days afterwards. These arrow-shots are
of frequent occurrence; and several of the soldiers of the fort have been
severely wounded. A number of arrows were discharged at some soldiers,

who were washing their clothes near the banks of the river, whilst we were
here. We picked them up, and the commandant made us a present of them.
These arrows, as are the arrows of all the Indians I have met with, are
so heavy that, at a greater distance than twenty or thirty yards, it is
necessary to discharge them at an elevation, so that they shall describe a
curve in the air; and it is wonderful to see with what precision the Indians
will calculate the arc, and regulate the force so that the arrow shall fall upon
the object. On the Amazon many fish and turtle are taken with bows and
arrows. An Indian in a canoe discharges his arrow in the air. It describes a
parabola, and lights upon the back of a fish, which the unpractised eye has
not been able to see. The barb, with which the arrow is armed, ships on the
end of it, and is held in its place by a cord which wraps around the shaft of
the arrow, and is tied to its middle. The plunge of the fish shakes the arrow
clear of the barb; the cord unwinds, and the arrow floats upon the water—
an impediment to the fish, and a guide to the fisherman, who follows his
arrow till the fish or turtle is dead. The motion of the arrow is so slow, and
it is so readily seen in its course, that I imagine there would be no danger in
the reception of single arrow-shots in front; for an abundance of time is
allowed to step aside and avoid them. I have seen boys shooting at buzzards
on the beach; and the arrow would alight upon the very spot where the bird
had been sitting, some seconds after he had left it.
Whilst here, we visited the haciendas of the Brothers Santa Maria,
Padre Saurez, and Zapatero—all, I believe, inhabitants of Tarma. That of
the last seemed the largest, and the best order of any that I had yet seen. A
description of the method of cultivating the staples of the country practised
on this farm, will give an idea of the general system of farming in the
Montaña.
Zapatero has about one hundred acres cleared, and most of it planted in
cane, coca, yucca, pine-apples, plantains, coffee, and cotton. The farm
employs a mayordomo, or steward, and four resident laborers. These are
serfs, and cost the employer their support and seven dollars a year each for
their contribution to the government, or poll tax. When more land is to be
cleared, or the coca crop gathered, laborers are hired from the neighboring
villages of Tarma, Ocsabamba, or Palca, at nominal wages of half a dollar a
day; but their support is charged to them, at such prices as to swallow up

nearly all the wages. A sheep, for example, is charged to them at three
dollars: its price in Tarma is one; yucca at thirty-seven and a half cents the
arroba, of twenty-five pounds; potatoes at fifty cents; maize at sixty-two
and a half cents. This is the maize of the hacienda; if it is supplied from the
Sierra it is one dollar and fifty cents. The laborers who live on the estate
seem contented with their lot; they dwell in small, filthy cane houses, with
their wives and children; do very little work, and eat chalona, (or dried
mutton,) charqui, (or jerked beef,) yucca, cancha, sweet potatoes, and
beans; and drink "huarapo," (the fermented juice of the cane,) and
sometimes a glass of bad rum made from it. They occasionally desert; but if
they do this, they must get some distance off, or custom, if not law, would
return them as debtors to their masters.
Sugar-cane is propagated, not from seed but from the top joints of the
old plant, and is planted at the commencement of the rainy season in
September. It is ready for cutting in a year; it yields again every ten months,
improving in quality and size every crop for a number of years, according
to the quality of the land and the care bestowed upon it. It will continue to
spring up from the roots for fifty or sixty years, with one or two light
workings with hoes in the year. The field is set fire to after every cutting, to
burn up the rubbage, weeds, &c. The average height of the cane is about ten
feet, though I have seen a stalk of sixteen feet.
Two men to cut and two to carry, will supply a mill called "Trapiche,"
which consists of three upright wooden rollers, in a rude wooden frame.
These rollers are cogged and placed close to each other. The head of the
middle one extends above the frame, and is squared, so as to allow the
shipping on it of a long beam, to the end of which an ox is harnessed,
which, walking in a circle, gives motion to the rollers. The end of the cane
is placed between the rollers, and is drawn in and crushed by them; a
wooden trough is placed below, to catch the juice. Such a mill will yield
fifteen hundred pounds of caldo or juice in a day. These fifteen hundred
pounds will give from two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds of
sugar, which is worth in Tarma twelve and a half cents the pound.
Sugar-cane is the most valuable and useful product of the Montaña.
The leaves of the cane, when green, serve for food for the cattle; when dry,
to make wrappings for the chancaca and sugar. The crushed stalk is used as

fuel for the oven. The hogs fatten on the foam at the top of the boiling.
From the first boiling is made the chancaca or brown sugar cake, which is
eaten after dinner by almost all classes, and in great quantities by the lower
class; it is worth six and a quarter cents the pound in Tarma. From one
thousand pounds of the caldo boiled ten hours, is made four hundred
pounds of chancaca. Very little sugar is yet made in the Montaña of
Chanchamayo; indeed, I did not see a nearer approach to it than chancaca in
all the route.
Coca is a bush of about four feet high, producing a small light-green
leaf, which is the part used. The blossom is white, and the fruit a small red
berry. The seed is sown in beds at the end of the rainy season—about the
first of March. The earth should be well broken up and cleaned. Arbors of
palm leaves are frequently built over the young shoots to protect them from
the sun, and they are watered, if it continues clear, for five or six days. It is
transplanted in September, a year and a half after planting, and gives its first
crop in a year, and every four months thereafter. The bush, if not destroyed
by ants, will continue to give leaves for many years. Sometimes, but rarely,
the leaves wither and the crop fails. It is necessary to gather the leaves and
dry them as quickly as possible, and, if a shower comes on, to gather them
up at once, as they are injured by getting wet. Every hundred plants will
give an arroba of leaves, which is worth, in Tarma, from six to seven
dollars. Some persons do not transplant, but sow several of the seed
together, and, when they come up, pull up all but the one most flourishing,
and leave that in its original place.
The leaf of this plant is to the Indian of Peru what tobacco is to our
laboring classes in the South—a luxury, which has become a necessity.
Supplied with an abundance of it, he sometimes performs prodigies of
labor, and can go without food for several days. Without it, he is miserable
and will not work. It is said to be a powerful stimulant to the nervous
system, and, like strong coffee or tea, to take away sleep; but, unlike
tobacco and other stimulants, no one has known it to be injurious to the
health. Von Tschudi thinks that an immoderate use of it is injurious, but
that, taken in moderation, it is in no way detrimental to health; and that
without it the Peruvian Indian, with his spare diet, would be incapable of
going through the labor which he now performs. The coca plant he
therefore considers as a great blessing to Peru.

He relates that an Indian, employed by him in digging, worked hard for
five nights and days without intermission, except for two hours each night
—and this without food. Immediately after the work the Indian
accompanied him on a two days' journey of twenty-three leagues on foot,
and then declared that he was ready to engage in the same amount of work,
and go through it without food, if he were allowed an abundance of coca.
This man was sixty-two years of age, and had never been sick in his life.
Coffee is propagated from suckers or slips, and it is necessary to protect
the plants from the sun by cultivating the broad-leaved plantain among
them till they have grown up to about four feet in height. No care, except an
occasional cleaning about the roots, is taken of them here, and yet the finest
coffee I have ever drunk was from this district. The bush grows to seven or
eight feet in height, and is very beautiful in appearance. It has a small and
very dark green leaf, pure white blossoms, and green, red, and dark purple
fruit on it at the same time. It gives its first crop in two years; but this is
small in quantity, and indifferent in quality. The bush is not in perfection
until four or five years after planting, and will then last for an indefinite
period. The fruit has the size and appearance of a small cherry. Two seeds
are contained in each berry. Each seed is wrapped in a thin paper-like
envelope, and both together are covered with another, and then surrounded
by a sweet, pleasant-tasting pulp, which is covered with a thin skin. Having
no machines for getting rid of this pulp, the cultivators gather the fruit, dry
it in the sun, and then soak it in water till all the envelopes come off, except
the paper-like skin surrounding each seed. The seeds are again dried in the
sun, and sent to market with this skin on. It is worth eight dollars the
hundred pounds in Tarma. In Lima it generally commands twenty, and
sometimes twenty-five and twenty-seven dollars, on account of its great
superiority to the coffee of Guayaquil and Central America, which is
generally used there.
"Cotton" may be planted at any time. It does not grow on a bush or
plant, as with us, but on a tree some eight or ten feet high. It gives its first
crop in a year, and will continue to give for three years; after which the tree
dries up, and it is necessary to replant. It bears cotton all the time; but this is
not good nor gathered during the rainy season. I could not ascertain how
much cotton a tree will give in its lifetime, but, from the quantity of
blossoms and bolls I saw on them, I should think its yield was great. The

quality, particularly that of Chanchamayo, is very superior. It is the black-
seed cotton, and when picked off leaves the seed perfectly bare and clean.
There is also nankeen-colored cotton here, (the tree seeming in every
respect like that of the white;) and afterwards, in Brazil, I saw green-seed
cotton, in which the seed (generally seven in number for each boll, or rather
for each division of it, for the boll seemed to hold the cotton in four distinct
parts) were aggregated in a single knot, and enveloped by the cotton. An
active man will pick one hundred pounds of cotton a day.
"Yucca," (cassava root,) which is grown from the stalk of the plant, is
planted at any time. It yields in nine months. The plant runs up to fifteen or
twenty feet in height, with about the thickness of a man's wrist. It is difficult
to distinguish this plant, or its fruit, from the mandioc. The mandioc is
called in Peru "yucca brava," or wild yucca; and this yucca dulce, or sweet
yucca. This may be eaten raw; the juice of the other is a deadly poison. The
yucca answers the same purpose in Peru that the mandioc does in Brazil. It
is the general substitute for bread, and roasted or boiled is very pleasant to
the taste. The most common drink of the Indians, called "masato,"[6] is also
made from it. Each plant will give from twenty to twenty-five pounds of the
edible root, which grows in clusters like the potato, and some of which are
as long and thick as a man's arm.
Three crops of "Indian corn" are made in the year. It is of good quality,
but much care is necessary to preserve it from weevil and other insects after
it is gathered and put away. It is generally placed in an upper story of a
house, and a fire is kindled underneath from time to time to smoke it, or it
will all be destroyed.
"Platanos"—which is the general name for all kinds of plantains, or
bananas, of which last there are several species, called respectively
"guineas," de la isla, &c.—are the most common fruit of the country. The
people eat them raw, roasted, boiled, baked, and fried. There can be no
dinner without them; and a vile rum is also made of them. By the Indians
the fruit is generally cut green and roasted. It is propagated from suckers or
young bulbs, and gives fruit with such facility and abundance as to foster
and minister to the laziness of the people, who won't work when they can
get anything so good without it.

I have frequently thought that a governor would do a good act, and
improve the condition, or at least the character, of the governed, who would
set fire to, or grub up every "platanal" in his district, and thus compel the
people to labor a little for their bread.
The other fruits are pine-apples, of tolerable quality, which doubtless
would be very fine with care and attention; sour sop, a kind of bastard
chirimoya; and papayo, a large fruit, about the size of a common
muskmelon, with a green skin and yellow pulp, which is eaten, and is very
sweet and of delicate flavor. It has seed like the muskmelon, and grows
under the leaves of a kind of palm in clusters like the cocoanut. There are a
few orange trees, but no fruit. An orange tree does not give good fruit under
six years, and most of the haciendas have been under cultivation but three.
The only farming utensils used in Chanchamayo are short coarse
sabres, with which weeds are cut up, and holes dug in the earth in which to
plant the seed.
This is not a good grazing country, though there were some cattle
belonging to the fort which seemed in good condition. All the meat used is
brought from Sierra. It seems difficult to propagate cattle in this country. All
the calves are born dead, or die soon after birth with a goitre or swelling in
the neck. I had no opportunity of investigating this; but I saw afterwards, in
an account of a missionary expedition made by an Italian friar, Father
Castrucci de Vernazza, to the Indians of the Pastaza, in 1846, "that cattle
were raised with great difficulty about Mayobamba, on account of the
'subyacuro,' a species of worm, which introduces itself between the cuticle
and cellular tissue, producing large tumors, which destroy the animal."
The houses on the haciendas are built of small, rough hewn, upright
posts, with rafters of the same forming the frame, which is filled in with
wild cane (caña brava,) and thatched with a species of narrow leafed palm,
which is plaited over a long pole and laid athwart the rafters. The leaves lie,
one set over the other, like shingles, and form an effectual protection
against the rain and sun; though I should think the rain would beat in
through the cane of the sides, as few of the houses are plastered. The
commandant of the fort was anxious to have his buildings tiled, as this palm
thatch, when dry, is exceedingly inflammable; and he felt that the buildings

of the fort were in constant danger from the not distant fires of the savages.
Señor Zapatero told me that he had contracted with a workman to build him
a large adobe house on his hacienda, well fitted with doors and windows of
good wood, and tiled, to make it fire-proof, for eight hundred dollars. The
same house in Tarma would cost him between three and four thousand, on
account of the exceeding difficulty of getting the wood from the Montaña.
He is a Catalan, and seems a resolute fellow. He thinks that the government
may withdraw the troops from the fort at any time; but says that he has four
swivels, which he means to mount around his house; and, as he has
expended much labor and money on his hacienda, he will hold on to the last
extremity, and not give up his property without a tussle.
It is a pity that there are not more like him, for many acres of fine land
are lying uncultivated in Chanchamayo on account of this fear; and several
of our Tarma friends offered us title deeds to large tracts of land there,
because a feeling of insecurity regarding the stability of the government
prevented them from expending time and money in the cultivation of them.
Another such administration as that just closed under President Castilla will
dissipate this apprehension; and then, if the Peruvian government would
invite settlers, giving them the means of reaching there, and appropriating a
very small sum for their maintenance till they could clear the forest and
gather their first fruits, I have no doubt that fifty years would see
settlements pushed to the navigable head waters of the Ucayali, and the
colonists would find purchasers for the rich and varied products of their
lands at their very doors.
June 23.—We started on the return to Tarma, accompanied by the
commandant and his servant. We walked up a part of the hill at Rio Seco.
This is very hard work. I could not stand it more than half way, and made
the mule carry me over the rest. It takes one hour to ascend, and an hour
and a quarter to descend. Camped at Utcuyacu.
June 24.—Missing my saddle bags, which had some money in them,
we sent Mariano, (our Tarma servant,) accompanied by the servant of the
commandant, back to a place some distance the other side of the big hill,
where the saddle bags had been taken off to adjust the saddle. He started at
six; we at eight, following our return track. We made the longest and
hardest day's ride we had yet made; and were much surprised at being

joined by the servants with the saddle-bags by nine p. m. They must have
travelled at least thirty-six miles over these terrible roads, crossing the big
hill twice, and ascending quite two thousand feet. Gibbon did not believe it.
He thought—and with much probability—that the boy had hid the saddle-
bags at Utcuyacu, and after we left there had produced them and followed
in our track, persuading or bribing the soldier to keep the secret. The
commandant, however, thought his servant incorruptible, and that this was
no great feat for these people.
One of our peons carried on his back, for a whole day, (fifteen miles,) a
bundle of alfalfa that Gibbon could not lift with ease, and pronounced, upon
trial, to be heavier than I am, or upwards of one hundred and twenty-five
pounds.
June 26.—Discharged Mariano because we could not trust him.
Though clever and active, he is neglectful and dishonest. We thought it
rather hard that the "Cura" should have recommended him to us, as his
character was notorious in the town. We believed that the "Cura," with the
people generally, was glad to get rid of him, and was disposed to palm him
off on any body.
We delighted the Tarma people with our favorable reports of the
Chanchamayo, and they loaded us with civilities and kindness. They did not
like the idea of my visiting the Montaña of Pozuzu and Mayro; and seemed
to fear that I might find there a better communication with the Amazon.

CHAPTER V.
Division of the party—Acobamba—Plain of Junin—Lake
Chinchaycocha—Preservation of potatoes—Cerro Pasco—Drainage of the
mines—Boliches.
Gibbon and I had long and earnest consultations about the propriety of
dividing the party; and I now determined to do so, giving to him the task of
exploring the Bolivian tributaries, while I took the headwaters and main
trunk of the Amazon. It was a bold, almost a rash determination, for the
party seemed small enough as it was; and we might readily encounter
difficulties on our route which would require our united exertions to
overcome. I had many misgivings, and told Gibbon at first that it seemed
midsummer madness; but the prospect of covering such an extent of
territory; of being enabled to give an account of countries and rivers so little
known; and the reflection that I need not abandon routes that I had looked
upon with a longing eye, were so tempting that they overrode all objections;
and we set about making our preparations for the separation.
We divided the equipage, the tocuyo, or cotton cloth, (which we had
not yet touched,) the hatchets, the knives, the beads, the mirrors, the arms
and ammunition. I gave Gibbon fifteen hundred dollars in money, and all
the instruments, except some thermometers and the boiling-point apparatus,
because I was to travel a route over which sextants and chronometers had
been already carried; and he might go where these had never been. I
directed him to hire a guide in Tarma, and, so soon as Richards (who was
still sick) should be able to travel, to start for Cuzco, and search for the
headwaters of the "Madre de Dios."

On the 29th, we dined with General Otero, this being his wife's
birthday and festival of St. Peter. The General, being an Argentine born,
gave us the national dish—the celebrated carne con cuero, or beef,
seasoned with spices, and roasted under ground in the hide, which is said to
preserve its juices, and make it more palatable. I observed that the soups
and the stews were colored with "achote." This is the urucu of the
Brazilians, of which the dye called annatto is made. It grows wild in great
abundance all over the Montaña, and is extensively used by the Indians for
painting their bodies and dyeing their cotton cloths. It is a bush of eight or
ten feet in height, and bears a prickly burr like our chincapin. This burr
contains a number of small red seeds, the skin or covering of which
contains the coloring matter.
The General gave us some "quinua," the seed of a broom-like bush,
which, boiled in milk, makes a pleasant and nutritious article of food. The
grains are something like rice, though smaller, and contain a sort of
mucilaginous matter. He also gave us some flower seeds, and valuable
specimens of silver ore from his mines at Cerro Pasco. He has large flocks
of sheep, the wool of which he sends to Lima; and has introduced the
Merino, which thrives. He gave us some asbestos from Cuzco, and
stalactites from a cave on a sheep farm, which, he says, the sheep are fond
of licking, and which Von Tschudi pronounced to contain Epsom salts. I
could detect no taste, and thought it a kind of magnesia. We parted from our
agreeable host and kind friend with regret.
July 1.—I started at noon with Ijurra and Mauricio, accompanied by
Gibbon and Captain Noel, with one of the Señores, Sta. Marias. At General
Otero's gate, Noel left us. A very pleasant gentleman this; and I shall long
remember his kindness. Soon after, Gibbon and I lingered behind the
company; and at the entrance of the valley of the Acobamba, which route I
was to take, we shook hands and parted. I had deliberated long and
painfully on the propriety of this separation; I felt that I was exposing him
to unknown perils; and I knew that I was depriving myself of a pleasant
companion and a most efficient auxiliary. My manhood, under the
depressing influence of these feelings, fairly gave way, and I felt again that
"hysterico passio," that swelling of the heart and filling of the eyes, that I
have so often been called upon to endure in parting from my gallant and
generous comrades of the navy.

He returned to make the necessary arrangements for his expedition. We
crossed the Chanchamayo by a stone bridge, and passed through the village
of Acobamba. This town contains about fifteen hundred or two thousand
inhabitants; but, like all the towns in the Sierra at this season, it appears
deserted—no one in the streets, and most of the doors closed. The road is a
steady and tolerably smooth ascent of the valley, which is narrow, pretty,
and well cultivated. As usual, the hills facing the north are bare and rugged;
those facing the south present more vegetation, but this is scant. Cactus and
long clump grass run to within two-thirds of the top, and then the rock
shoots perpendicularly up in naked majesty.
Three miles above Acobamba we passed the village of Picoi, which has
its plaza, church and cemetery, with about one hundred houses.
Six miles further brought us to Palcamayo, a village of one thousand
inhabitants, belonging to the "Doctrina" of Acobamba. A justice of the
peace, a good-looking Indian, whom we encountered sitting at the door of a
grog-shop in the plaza, conducted us to the house of the alcalde. We found
this worthy drunk, and asleep on the floor, and were much annoyed with the
attentions of another individual, who had a very dirty poultice on his jaws;
this was his worship's secretary, who was in little better condition than his
patron. Two drunken "regidores" came in to see us; and it seemed that all
the magistracy of Palcamayo had been "on a spree." They required the
money of us before they would get us or our cattle anything to eat.
It would be difficult to find a clearer sky and a purer atmosphere than
we had here. The sky, at twilight, looked white or gray, rather than blue; and
I thought it was cloudy until my eye fell upon the young moon, with edges
as distinct and clear as if it were cut out of silver, and near at hand. The
elevation of Palcamayo is ten thousand five hundred and thirty-nine feet
above the level of the sea.
July 2.—Thermometer, at 6 a. m., 37; clear and calm. Three miles
above Palcamayo we left the maize and alfalfa, and encountered potatoes
and barley. The road a league above this point turns sharp to the westward,
and ascends a steep and rugged "cuesta." This brought us out upon a small
plain, bounded by low hills, and dotted with small detached houses, built of
stone and covered with conical roofs of straw. They were circular, and

looked like bee-hives. The plain was covered with a short grass, and many
tolerably looking cattle and sheep were feeding on it. A small stream,
coming from the westward, ran through its midst. The water had been
carried by a canal half-way up the sides of the hills that bounded the plain
to the northward, so as to enable the people to irrigate the whole plain.
Where the water had broken through the canal, and spread itself over the
side of the hill, it had frozen, and the boys were amusing themselves sliding
down it.
At the western edge of the plain is the village of "Cacas," of two
hundred and fifty or three hundred inhabitants. The people were celebrating
the festival of St. Peter, for they are not particular about days. The church
was lighted and decorated with all the frippery that could be mustered; and
preparations were making for a great procession. There were two Indians,
or Meztizos, dressed in some old-fashioned infantry uniform, with epaulets;
flaming red sashes, tied in monstrous bows behind, and white gloves. (The
cocked hats, for size and variegated plumage, beggar description.) These
were evidently the military part of the procession; one was mounted on a
little shaggy nag, with his sword hanging on the right-hand side; and the
other was strutting about, nearly buried in his cocked hat, while just
fourteen men were employed in caparisoning his horse. The drinking had
already commenced; most of the population were getting drunk fast, and I
have no doubt there was a grand row that night.
Drinking seems a very general vice amongst the inhabitants of these
wet, cold, and highly-elevated plains. The liquor is invariably the Pisco or
Ica brandy, made in that province. It is pleasant to the taste and of good
quality. In the Montaña we had often occasion to regret the exchange of this
for new-made cane rum.
The hills that bound the plain on the west have two salt springs, from
which the inhabitants of the village get their salt by evaporation. The hill
over which we rode is called the "Cuesta de la Veta," because travellers
suffer from this sickness in passing it. As I had felt nothing of it, even at the
Pass of Antarangra, I watched very closely for any symptoms of it here; but
perceived none, though I sucked a cigar all the way to the top. The road to
the top of the Cuesta is about three miles in length, and its ascent brought us
to the historical plain of Junin, where Bolivar, on the 6th of August, 1824,

gave the Spaniards a heavy and very nearly conclusive overthrow. Half an
hour's ride over the plain brought into view the Western Cordillera, the
Lake Chinchaycocha, and the pyramid erected by Mariano Rivero (then
prefect of the province) to commemorate the battle. It stands off to the left
of the road about a league, and is at the foot of a little hill, where the
liberator stood to direct the fight; it is white, and seemed seventy or eighty
feet high. Our day's ride of eighteen miles brought us to the town of Junin,
where we took lodgings in the house of the governor; more drunken people
there.
July 3.—Junin is a village of one thousand inhabitants, situated about a
mile and a half from the southern extremity of the lake Chinchaycocha, and
twelve thousand nine hundred and forty-seven feet above the level of the
sea. This lake is twenty miles long, in a N. W. and S. E. direction, and has
an average breadth of about six miles. It is said to discharge its waters into
the Amazon by the river of Jauxa, which we crossed at Oroya, and which is
a tributary of the Ucayali.
The inhabitants of Junin, and the other towns of this plain, are
herdsmen. They raise cattle for the supply of Cerro Pasco and Tarma, and
mules for beasts of burden. Their houses are built of mud and straw; and
they eat mutton and macas, (a root of the potato kind, but looking, and
when boiled tasting, more like a turnip.) The people of these regions find it
very difficult to procure vegetables, as quinua and barley will not grain, nor
potatoes grow, in the wet soil and cold atmosphere of the plain. They
therefore have to resort to means for preserving the potato and its varieties,
which are got from the valleys of the Andes. These means are, generally,
drying and freezing; and they make a variety of preparations from the
potato in this way. The macas are simply exposed to the frost and sun for a
number of days, and then put away in a dry room. The inhabitants make a
sort of soup or sirup of them, the smell of which, Rivero says, "is a little
disagreeable to people unaccustomed to it," (it is really very offensive;) and
it is the general opinion that it is a stimulant to reproduction.
"Caya" is made from the oca and the mashua, (a variety of the oca,) by
putting them in water till they rot, and then exposing them to the sun and
cold. This, when cooked, smells worse than the macas, and no stomach but
that of an Indian or a beast could possibly tolerate it.

There are two kinds of "chuno." One (the black) is made from the
common potato by soaking it some days in water, then pressing it to express
all the moisture, and freezing it. The white (called moray) is made from a
large, bitter potato, which abounds in the departments of Junin, Cuzco, and
Puno. The potatoes are put in water, in a bag, at the setting of the sun, and
taken out before sunrise. This operation is carried on for fifteen or twenty
days. It is an especial condition of this chuno's turning out well that it shall
be put in water after sunset, and taken out before sunrise; for, if it is touched
by the sun, it immediately turns black. It is then pressed and exposed to the
sun for a few days.
"Chochoca" is the common potato, first cooked and peeled, and then
frozen. This and the chuno are healthy and nutritive articles of diet.
I quote these means of preserving the potato and its varieties from
Rivero, who thinks that these articles of food will, in time, become of great
importance, particularly in the supply of the army and navy, and for long
journeys or voyages; and that if the European nations knew of these
productions, and the means of preserving them, they would draw great
advantages from the knowledge.
The plain, about forty-five miles long, and from six to twelve broad, is
generally wet, and in some places marshy. The soil is gravelly, with a light
covering of mould, producing a short grass, scarcely adequate for the
support of the flocks, which are indeed of small size, but sometimes fat and
good. A great number of large beautiful waterfowl, including the scarlet
flamingo and several varieties of snipe, frequent the banks of the lake and
marshy places. The people cut their supply of fuel from the turf of the bogs,
in the dry, and stack it up for use in the rainy season. There is said to be
much thunder and lightning here at the commencement of the rainy season,
(about the first of October,) and the lightning frequently falls on a hill about
four miles to the eastward of the town, where the inhabitants say there is
much loadstone. The plain is about thirteen thousand feet above the level of
the sea. It has a gentle slope downwards from west to east. I found the
difference in elevation (by temperature of boiling water) between the
villages of Junin and Ninaccaca (the latter about twenty miles to the west of
the former) to be four hundred and forty-five feet.

The road onward from Junin runs not far from the banks of the lake. On
the left we had the grand snow-covered domes and pinnacles of the Western
Cordillera sleeping in the sunlight, while clouds and storm enveloped the
Eastern. About 2 p. m., a breeze from the northward brought some of the
storm down upon us. It snowed fast; the flakes were small and round, like
hail, but soft and white. The thermometer, which was 54 at the
commencement of the storm, fell, during its continuance of ten minutes, to
46. We found an overcoat very comfortable.
About fifteen miles from Junin we passed the village of Carhuamayo.
Here I saw the only really pretty face I have met with in the Sierra, and
bought a glass of pisco from it. The road between Junin and Carhuamayo is
a broad and elevated one, built of stones and earth by the Spaniards.
Without this the plain would be impassable in the rainy season. Six miles
further we stopped at the tambo of Ninaccaca.
July 4.—The village of Ninaccaca, of two or three hundred inhabitants,
lies off to the right of the road, on which the tambo is situated, about half a
mile. I would have gone there, but I was desirous of sleeping in a tambo, for
the purpose of testing the accounts of other travellers who complain so
bitterly of them. We were fortunate enough to have the tambo to ourselves,
there being no other travellers; and I had quite as comfortable a time as in
the alcalde's house at Palcamayo, or in that of the governor of Junin. My
bed is generally made on the baggage in the middle of the floor; while
Ijurra takes to the mud standing bed-places which are to be found in every
house. Last night I woke up, and finding him very uneasy, I asked "if he had
fleas up there." He replied, with the utmost sang-froid, and as if he were
discussing some abstract philosophical question with which he had no
personal concern whatever, that "this country was too cold for fleas, but that
his bed-place was full of lice." It made my blood run cold; but long before I
got out of the mouth of the Amazon I was effectually cured of
fastidiousness upon this or any similar subject.
We were somewhat annoyed by the attentions of the master of the
house, who was very drunk. His wife told us next morning that he came
near killing her with his knife, and would infallibly have beaten her, but that
she told him "those strangers were soldiers, and would shoot him if he did."
Her naïve way of telling how she managed the man, and got off from the

beating, was quite amusing. The accent of these people is a sort of sliding
drawl that makes every voice alike. They use an imperfect Quichua or Inca
language, which I am told is only spoken perfectly in the neighborhood of
Cuzco.
Our route now approached the Western Cordillera fast. About three
miles from the tambo the plain began to be broken into rolling hills. The
direction of the road, which had been W. N. W., changed to N. W. by N.,
and crossed them. After crossing a range we stopped to breakfast at a
collection of a few huts, where I was amused at an instance of the apathy of
the people. A very common reply to the inquiry of the traveller if he can
have such and such things, is "manam cancha," (there is none; we haven't
it). We rode up to the door of a hut, the mistress of which was sitting
"knitting in the sun" at the back of it. She heard our horses' tread, and too
lazy to change her position, without seeing us or ascertaining if we wanted
anything, she screamed out "manam cancha." Ijurra abused her terribly; and
we had our water boiled (which was all we wanted) at another hut. The
Viuda pass of the Cordillera, which is generally crossed by travellers
between Lima and Cerro Pasco, was in view from this place, bearing S. 30°
W. Immediately after starting, we began passing haciendas for the grinding
of ores and getting out silver. They are situated on small streams that come
from either the Eastern or Western Cordillera, and that find their way into
Lake Chinchaycocha. They all seem dry at this season; and none of the
haciendas are at work. Passed the old village of Pasco. This was once the
great mining station, but, since the discovery of the mines at the Cerro, it is
falling into decay. Three miles from this the country becomes more hilly
and rocky, losing the character of Pampa. The passage of a low, but abrupt
chain of hills, brings the traveller in view of Cerro Pasco. The view from
this point is a most extraordinary one. I can compare it to nothing so fitly as
the looking from the broken and rugged edges of a volcano into the crater
beneath. The traveller sees small houses, built, without regard to regularity,
on small hills, with mounds of earth and deep cavities in their very midst;
and mud chimneys of ancient furnaces, contrasting strikingly with the more
graceful funnel of the modern steam engine; the huge cross erected on the
hill of Sta. Catalina, near the middle of the city, which his fancy may
suppose placed there to guard, with its holy presence, the untold treasures
beneath; two beautiful little lakes, only divided by a wide causeway at the

southern extremity of the crater, and another embedded among the hills to
the westward; hills (on one of which he stands) of five hundred feet in
height, with bold white heads of rock, surrounding these; and the
magnificent Cordillera from the right and left overlooking the whole.

Lt. Gibbon del. Wagner & McGuigan's Lith. Phila.

FORT SAN RAMON (PERU).
Pl. 9.

These are the objects that strike the eye of the traveller at his first view.
As he rides down the hill, he sees the earth open everywhere with the
mouths of mines now abandoned; he is astonished at their number, and feels
a sense of insecurity as if the whole might cave in at once and bury him
quick. He rides into the narrow, ill-paved streets of the city, and, if he can
divert his attention for a moment from the watching of his horse's footsteps,
he will observe the motliest population to be met with anywhere out of the
dominions of the Sultan. I believe that he may see, in a single ride through
the city, men of all nations, and of almost every condition; and if he don't
see plenty of drunken people, it will be a marvel.
I was delighted when we turned into the patio of the house of the sub-
prefect of the province, Don Jose Mier y Teran, and escaped the rude stare
and drunken impertinence of the Indians, thronging the streets, and doors of
the grog-shops. This gentleman, whose kindness we had experienced at
Tarma, gave us quarters in his house, and pressed us to make ourselves at
home, to which his blunt, abrupt, and evidently sincere manners particularly
invited.

After a wash, to which the coldness of the weather and the water by no
means invited, I put on my uniform in honor of the day, and went out to see
Mr. Jump, director of the machinery, and Mr. Fletcher, an employé of the
Gremio, (Board of Miners,) to whom I brought letters of introduction from
Lima. These gentlemen received me with great cordiality. Mr. Jump offered
me a room in his house, and Mr. Fletcher handed me a number of letters
from friends at home, at Lima, and at Santiago. These letters were cordial
medicines to me; I had arrived cold, sick, and dispirited, and but for them
should have passed the first night of mental and physical suffering that I
had been called upon to endure since leaving Lima.
July 6.—Rain nearly all night; I was cold and sick, and sat by the fire
all day, trying to keep myself warm. The houses in Cerro Pasco are
generally built of stones and mud, and covered in with tiles or straw; most
of them have grates, with mud chimneys, and are plentifully supplied with
good coal, both bituminous and hard. Mier says that if the place owes
nothing else to the Pasco Peruvian Company, it owes it (at least) a debt of
gratitude for the introduction of the grates. I found, however, very little
comfort in them; for the houses are so open about the doors and windows,
that while my toes were burning, my back was freezing; and one has to be
constantly twisting round, like a roasting turkey, to get anything of their
benefit. My companion, Ijurra, whose fathers were rich miners and
powerful men in these parts, had many visitors. The talk of the company
was of nothing but the mines, and incessant was the complaining (which I
have heard elsewhere) of the miseries and uncertainties of the miner's life.
All seem to agree that it is a sort of gambling, in which most lose; but there
is the same sort of feverish infatuation in it that there is in gaming with
cards, and the unlucky player cannot but persevere, in the hope that the luck
will change, and that the boya (striking the rich vein,) like "the bullets and
bragger oldest," will come at last.
I went out with Mr. Jump to look at the town. It was a most curious
looking place, entirely honey-combed, and having the mouths of mines
(some two or three yards in diameter) gaping everywhere. From the top of
the hill called Sta. Catalina, the best view is obtained of the whole. Vast
pits, called "Tajos," surround this hill, from which many millions of silver
have been taken; and the miners are still burrowing, like so many rabbits, in
their bottoms and sides. I estimate that the tajo of Sta. Rosa is six hundred

yards long, by four hundred broad and sixty deep; those of the
"Descubridora" and —— are about half as large. The hill of Sta. Catalina is
penetrated in every direction; and I should not be surprised if it were to
cave in any day, and bury many in its ruins. The falling in of mines is of
frequent occurrence; that of "Mata-gente" (kill people) caved in years ago,
and buried three hundred persons; and four days ago a mine fell in and
buried five: four have been recovered, but one is still incarcerated, and the
people are now hard at work for him. We visited a machine-shop, and the
hacienda for grinding ores by steam, that Mr. Jump is erecting near the city.
I should think the hacienda would be a good speculation; for the ores,
which have now to be transported on the backs of mules and llamas for a
distance of four, five, or six miles to the haciendas, may be taken to this by
a railroad in a few minutes; and Mr. Jump believes that he shall have water
enough for his boilers all the year; whereas the other haciendas cannot grind
for more than three parts of the year. The cost of the machinery, which is
cast in England, in parts equal to a mule-load, and transported from Lima
on the backs of these animals; the pay of machine and engine drivers; the
digging of ditches for the supply of water; fuel; and all such expenses to
which the other haciendas are not subject, I could not well calculate.
Mr. Fletcher, who has lived a long time in Cerro Pasco, says that a
purchaser of the ores (making sure of his "guias" or experiments on the
yield of the ore) can count his gains as easily and certainly as he can the
dollars in his pocket; that those men who lose are either the lazy and the
careless, or the speculators and lookers after rich ores, to make a fortune at
once. The most common and easily obtained ores here are called
"cascajos." They do not require roasting, as do the ores at Párac; but
otherwise the silver is got out in the same manner as I have described it to
be at that place. Instead, however, of the ground ore being placed in small
piles, and, after being mixed with salt and mercury, trodden with the feet,
and worked with hoes as it is at Párac, a large quantity is placed in a
circular enclosure, with a stone floor and mud wall, and it is trodden with
horses (as we used in old times to "tread wheat" in Virginia) until the
amalgamation is completed. The general yield of the cascajos is six marks
to the caxon. Their cost, according to the hardness of the rock in which they
are enclosed, or their distance from the surface, is from six to sixteen
dollars. Here is a calculation to show that, even at their highest price, of

sixteen dollars, (being assured by the guia that the caxon will yield six
marks,) their working, or benificiation, as it is called here, will pay. The
complete amalgamation in the "circo," or circle, requires from forty to fifty
days.

Dr. Circo of six caxones, a $16 caxon $96 00
150 mule loads, (transportation to the hacienda,) a
25 cents 37 50
Grinding, a $10 60 00
Magistral, (calcined iron pyrites,) 1 arroba 1 00
40 arrobas of salt, a 50 cents 20 00
5 tramplings by horses, a $5 25 00
Working and washing the amalgam 11 50
Loss of 35 lbs. quicksilver, a $1 35 00
286 00
Cr. 6 caxones, at 6 marks caxon, 36 marks. (Mark is
worth in Cerro Pasco $8 50) 306 00

I had this statement from Mr. Jump. I did not examine it at the time, but
I observed afterwards that there is no charge for driving off the mercury of
the amalgam, and leaving the pure silver, which is worth eight dollars and
fifty cents the mark. This would amount to six dollars more, leaving the
profit to the purchaser, for the two months that he has been engaged in
getting his silver, but fourteen dollars. This, of course, is but a poor
business; for, though any quantity of the ore maybe purchased, there are not
haciendas enough to grind, or circos to amalgamate, a sufficient quantity to
make the speculation good; and thus many millions of this ore are left
unworked. The ore, however, rarely costs sixteen dollars, and will
frequently give seven or eight marks to the caxon.
Statement showing the cost of a mark of silver placed on board ship for
exportation:

Cost of a mark of piña in the Cerro $8 50
Impost for steam machines for pumping water from the
mines.
(This has been 12½ cents, and soon will be 50 cents) 25

Socabon (or great drain) duty 12½
Public works 6¼
Government or export duty 50
Mineral tribunal duty 12½
Loss in running the piña into bars 12½
Carriage to Lima, and other petty expenses 6¼
Profit of the purchaser in the Cerro 37½
10 12½

Twelve dwts. is the standard of pure silver in the mint at Lima. All the
bars that go from this place are marked 11.22. They are assayed in Lima. If
they come up to that standard they are worth $8.6746 the mark. For every
grain under this 11.22 there is a deduction in the price of .0303 of a dollar.
To-day there was a meeting of the gremio, to take into consideration a
question that had arisen whether the contractors for putting up the steam
machinery for draining the mines had fulfilled their part of the contract. A
short history of the draining of these mines may not be uninteresting, and
will at all events put persons on their guard how they make contracts with
miners.
The mines of Cerro Pasco were discovered in 1630, by an Indian
making a fire on some stones and observing melted silver. They were
worked, with little or no drainage, and with great success, up to the year
1780, when the socabon (or drain) of San Judas was commenced. This is a
great ditch of five and a half feet in breadth and six feet ten inches in height,
which drains the mines into the lake of San Judas. Its length is about thirty-
five hundred feet, and it cost one hundred thousand dollars. It was finished
in 1800. This would drain, by percolation, all the mines above it. For those
below it, it was necessary to pump the water up by hand. This was found so
inefficient a means, (the socabon also not being sufficiently large,) that in
1806 the gremio commenced the construction of the socabon of
Quiulacocha, eighty-eight feet below that of San Judas, six feet ten inches
broad, and eight feet three inches high. The work is continued upon it to this
day. The part that I saw is arched, well walled with solid masonry, and the
water rushes through it like a small river. Many lumbreras, or light holes,

are sunk down upon it in various directions to give light and air, and to
carry into the socabon the drainage of the neighboring mines.
In 1816, the gremio contracted with two Spaniards, Abadia and
Arismendi, for the drainage of the mines by steam machinery. These
persons put up three steam machines for working pumps, and the results
were very happy, the ores being found much richer the farther down the
mines reached. The war of independence broke them up; their miners being
taken away for soldiers, and their machines used up for horse-shoes.
In 1825, an English company, styling itself the "Pasco Peruvian,"
undertook the drainage. This company contracted to be paid in ores, which
they were to beneficiate themselves. They were never fairly paid. They
employed English officials and operatives at high salaries; and after having
dug one hundred and ten feet, at a cost of forty thousand dollars, between
September, 1825, and January, 1827, they failed. The government then took
it up, and gave two thousand dollars monthly towards the work, the miners
also taxing themselves twelve and a half cents on the mark of silver
obtained. Rivero took charge of the work, and from the first of June, 1827,
to the first of January, 1828, he perforated one hundred and twenty-two feet
in the socabon, the workmen finding powder and candles, and he supplying
tools. In an official statement, afterwards made by Rivero, he shows that to
excavate a vara cost him eighty-six dollars, while it cost the Pasco Peruvian
Company one thousand dollars; though he says that in the lumbrera of Sta.
Rosa the Pasco Peruvian Company found the rock so hard that twelve men
could not perforate more than half a vara a month. The socabon at present is
eight thousand two hundred and fifty feet long, and three hundred feet
below the surface. About a million of dollars have been spent upon it,
though it is said it has not really cost so much.
A few years ago it was determined to try steam again, for the purpose
of carrying on the mining below the great drain, and the gremio contracted
with Mr. Jump to undertake it. He bound himself to put up four sets of
engines, to work those engines for a year at his own expense, and then turn
them over to the gremio; the gremio, on the other hand, binding itself to
sink the shafts and to pay weekly twelve and a half cents on every mark of
silver produced by the mines for a certain length of time, then twenty-five,
and then fifty cents, till six hundred thousand dollars were paid.

The work is carried on with unexampled despatch on the part of Mr.
Jump, so that now two sets of engines are at work, a third is going up, and
the fourth has arrived from England, though the shaft is not yet ready for it.
But there are two parties in the gremio, representing distinct interests. One
party, of which General Bermudez (at the time of making the contract
prefect of the department and ex-officio president of the gremio) is the
leader, represents the speculative men, who look for "boyas," and think that
great and sudden riches are to be had by draining the mines below the
socabon. The other party (and the majority) represents the men who,
content with moderate and certain gain, work the cascajos which are
generally above the drain, and therefore need no machinery. These men
were probably borne down by the influence of Bermudez during his
prefecture, and a majority was obtained for the contract; but since his
retirement they rise up and say, "It is a hard case that we should contribute
to pay for machines that do us no good;" and they seek for means to avoid
this. They find it in the wording of the contract; and although they see that
the machines are doing, and more than doing, the work required, they take
advantage of the wording, and raise the question now under consideration.
The words of the contract are, that "he, the contractor, shall bind himself to
put up four sets of engines, each set to consist of two engines of fifteen-
horse power each, and to drive three pumps; each engine to be entirely
independent of the other in such a manner that, if an accident happen to one
engine, the other shall be able to drive two pumps."
I thought, from examination of the engines, that a case might occur
whereby the wording of the contract would fail to be fulfilled; but it seemed
to me that this arose from the nature of the contract, and was not at all
chargeable on Mr. Jump; for it appears to me that, for two engines to drive
three pumps, and in such a manner that if one breaks the other may drive
two, it is necessary to have a connexion between those engines, which
connexion breaking, although either engine may be intact and able to drive
its own pump, (thus keeping two pumps going,) yet the engines must stop to
repair the connexion, so as to drive all three again. That the pretended
objection is a quibble, may be seen from the fact that the engines keep the
shafts clear with only two pumps, and do not work the third; but I suspect
that news recently received from Lima of the discovery of large quicksilver
mines in California, which would bring down the price of that article one-

half, and double the value of the cascajos, (thus still diminishing the
necessity for drainage,) had something to do with the movement. A
committee of the gremio, appointed for the investigation of the matter, did
report in favor of stopping the payments; but before this was decided upon,
some rich ores were discovered by the operation of the pumps. This
changed their tune, for, although they now only work the ores above the
socabon, they may, if they choose, penetrate below it; and if these machines
should show conclusively that there are richer ores below, they of course
would be glad to have them, and the gremio, therefore, (including even
some of the members of the committee,) voted that the works and the
payments should continue, and the matter should be arbitrated. I of course
get my knowledge and views pretty much from Mr. Jump, one of the
parties; but I meet at his house and elsewhere with men of the opposite
party, and hear the matter very fully discussed. I would have advised Mr.
Jump, in any other country, to reject arbitration and appeal to the law; but
the less a man has to do with law in this country the better, not so much on
account of its ill administration as of its vexatious delay.
I removed from the sub-prefect's house to that of Mr. Jump, Ijurra
staying with his relations, and Mauricio and the mules at board.
The "callana," or smelting-house, where the "piña" is run into bars, is a
government establishment, and is farmed out. All the produce of the mines
has to pass through it; is here run into bars, weighed, stamped, and the
duties charged upon it. It is very rude in its appointments, a mere straw-
covered hut, with an iron smelting pot in the middle, mounted by arms, on
two iron uprights like anvils. The pot melts at one operation sufficient silver
to make a bar of two hundred and fifty marks, or one hundred and twenty-
five pounds. Alternate layers of piña and charcoal are put in the smelting
pot; fire is applied, and air furnished by a rude bellows. When the silver is
melted, the pot is turned on its arms, and the silver poured out of a sort of
ear at the top of the pot into an iron mould below. From one and a half to
one and three-fourths per cent. is lost in this operation; much seems to be
driven off by the irregular and excessive heat, and the sides and roof of the
hut are covered with a deposit of fine particles of silver, looking like frost.
They are frequently swept; I did not think to ask to whom these sweepings
belong, but I imagine to the farmers of the "callana." The bars are marked
with the number of the bar for the year, the number of marks it contains, the

initials of the owner, and the invariable 11.22, which designates its "ley" or
quality.
Remittances of bars are made to Lima every week. Last week the
remittance amounted to seven thousand five hundred marks—a large yield.
Since my return, I cut from a Lima paper a letter from Cerro Pasco, of
April, 1851, (a few months before the date of my visit,) in which the writer
states the remittances for the week at eighteen bars, or four thousand five
hundred marks. He says, "The drainage by steam is progressing rapidly.
Another vein of ore has been discovered in the mine of Peña Blanca, but I
believe not very rich. The advices from Lima are constant that the
quicksilver mines of California will yield a sufficient supply for Peru, at a
price not exceeding fifty or sixty dollars the 'quintal', (or hundred pounds).
Should this be the case, there will be no need of suspending the working of
the cascajos, as ore of six marks to the caxon, with quicksilver at seventy
dollars the quintal, and piña at eight dollars the mark, will leave fifty dollars
of profit in the circo. The price of quicksilver at present is from one
hundred to one hundred and seven dollars the quintal; that of piña, eight
dollars and forty-three and three-fourth cents."
The yield of these mines is about two millions a year, which is nearly
equal to the yield of all the rest of the mines of Peru together.
M. Castelnau makes a calculation from all the data within his reach, by
which it appears that the yield of the mines of Cerro Pasco, since the date of
their discovery in 1630 to the year 1849, amounts to about the sum of four
hundred and seventy-five millions of dollars, which would give a yearly
mean of about two millions one hundred and seventy thousand.
About two hundred miles-to the southward and eastward of Cerro
Pasco are situated the celebrated quicksilver mines of Huancavelica. The
viceroys of the regal and the presidents of the republican government have
made many efforts to keep up the working of these mines, but of late years
entirely without success. M. Castelnau states that their produce since the
opening in 1751 to the year 1789, inclusive, (since which time they have
yielded nothing of importance,) has been one million forty thousand four
hundred and fifty-two quintals, which, at a mean price of sixty-five dollars
the quintal, will give the sum of sixty-seven million six hundred and

twenty-nine thousand three hundred and eighty dollars. In the same time
have been expended on them ten million five hundred and eighty-seven
thousand eight hundred and forty-five dollars.
S. S. Rivero and Pierola formed a society in the year 1828 for the
working of these mines, but the scheme fell through. Many other
propositions have been also made to the Peruvian government, since the
independence, for the working of them, but have failed of success. The
liberator (Bolivar) refused to sell them for a sum of six or seven hundred
thousand dollars. (Castelnau, vol. 4, page 226.)
I met a gentleman in Cerro Pasco who was then on his way to examine
and report upon the mines of Huancavelica.
July 8.—Visited the mines. We entered a mouth which seemed only a
little larger than that of a common well; each of the party furnished with a
tallow candle, shipped in an iron contrivance at the end of a staff. The
descent was disagreeable, and, to the tyro, seemed dangerous; it was at an
angle of at least 75° from the horizontal line. The earth was moist, and the
steps merely holes dug for the heels at irregular distances. I feared every
moment that my boot-heel would slip, and that I should "come with a
surge" upon my next in advance, sending him and myself into some gulf
profound. I was heartily glad when we got upon the apparently level and
broad bank of the great socabon, and had made up my mind that I would
tempt Providence no more. But, reflecting that I should never, probably,
visit the mines of Cerro Pasco again, I took courage and descended one
hundred and ten feet further, by an even worse descent than the former, to
the bottom of the pump shafts. A burly and muscular Cornishman, whom I
at first took to be a yankee, with a bit of candle stuck into a lump of mud in
front of his hat, was superintending here, and growling at the laziness and
inefficiency of his Indian subordinates. I should think that these pumps
were not well attended to, so far from the eye of the master. They are
worked by chains and long copper rods. All the metal work of the pumps is
of copper. Iron is corroded very quickly, on account of the sulphuric acid
and sulphates which the water of the mines holds in solution. The fish are
said to have abandoned the lake of Quiulacocha, into which the waters are
forced, on this account. The sides of the mines were covered in many places
with beautiful sulphates of iron and copper.

Our exploration lasted about four hours; and we emerged at the tajo of
Sta. Rosa, where, seated upon piles of silver ore, we partook of some bread
and cheese, and a glass of pisco, which we found as welcome and as
grateful as manna in the desert. This freshened us up, and we went to see
the "boliches." These are hand-mills, or rather foot-mills, for grinding ore;
generally owned by Frenchmen or Italians, who grind the ore that is brought
to them in small quantities by the workmen in the mines. Rivero's account
of their charges is amusing. He says: "One of these speculators commences
with fifty dollars, (the value of a boliche,) and at the end of two or three
years is known to be worth a fortune of eight or ten thousand dollars. He
exacts from the workman in the mine, who brings it to him, fifty or sixty-
two and a half cents for grinding a "carga," which is a very uncertain
measure—sometimes a mule-load, sometimes a man-load; but in this case a
small hamper-full. He charges twenty-five cents for the water used in the
beneficiation, twelve and a half cents for the man who pours the water on,
twelve and a half cents for him who breaks the ore into small bits for
grinding, sixty-two and a half cents for the grinder, twelve and a half cents
for the hole where the mass of ground metal is deposited, (and if this is
boarded, he exacts twenty-five cents more,) and twelve and a half cents to
clear the water out of it, twelve and a half cents for taking the metal out of
this hole and putting it in a bull's hide, for the hire of which he charges
twenty-five cents; so that the hide will yield the decent sum of sixty or
seventy dollars before it wears out and becomes useless. A hoe will give as
much more, for the hire of which twelve and a half cents is charged, and six
and a quarter cents besides for every time it is used in incorporating the
mass. He gains at least fifty cents in every arroba of salt which he furnishes.
For a pound of magistral, which is worth fifty cents, he exacts two dollars.
He gains fifty cents in every pound of quicksilver; so that, calculating these
expenses with regard to a caxon, they amount to about fifty dollars, which
is just so much profit to the bolichero. The 'relabes,' moreover, are his; and
they are frequently very valuable. He then expresses all the quicksilver
from the pella that he can, and receives it of the workman at three pounds
the mark, paying him six dollars and twenty-five cents; by which
negotiation he gains a mark in every nine, after the quicksilver is driven off
by heat, bating to the workman at the same time half a pound in the
extraction of the quicksilver. The workman is contented with all this,
because, however little profit he makes, the ore which he delivered to the

bolichero for grinding cost him nothing but the stealing." This, however, is
not always the case. The laborer frequently demands his wages in a portion
of ore. Custom seems to give him this right; and the proprietor of the mine
complains, with justice, that he has to pay in ores when they are rich, and in
money when the ores are poor.
A boliche consists of a large flat stone laid on an elevated platform of
rock or earth, and another, convex on its lower side, resting upon it. The
grinder, standing upon this upper stone, spreads his feet apart, and gives it
motion by the movement of his body. The bits of ore are placed between
these stones, and a small stream of water from a barrel above mixes with
the harina, and carries it off to a receptacle below. It may be imagined that,
to draw any profit from so rude a contrivance as this, it is necessary that the
ores ground by it should be of the richest kind.
The apparatus for driving off the mercury by heat is as rude as the
boliche. The pella is placed in a kind of earthen jar or bottle made in the
neighborhood, and worth from two to three reals. An iron tube, of about two
yards long, is introduced into the mouth of the jar, which is then closed with
a yellowish clay. The other end of this tube (which is bent) is put into an
earthen jar half-full of water, where the fumes of the mercury are
condensed. Fire is kindled around the earthen bottles which contain the
pella, and continued for three or four hours, when the bottles are broken and
the piña taken out.
The man who was buried by the falling in of one of the mines was got
out yesterday. He seemed strong, though he had had no food for nearly
seven days. He had lost the account of time, and thought he had been
enclosed in the earth but three days.
July 9.—Suffering to-day from an affection called macolca, which is
incident to nearly every one on his first visit to the mines. This is a painful
soreness of the muscles, particularly on the front of the thigh. I could
scarcely bear that my legs should be touched, and locomotion was anything
but agreeable.
The town of Cerro Pasco is (by temperature of boiling water) thirteen
thousand eight hundred and two feet above the level of the sea. Rivero
states it at fourteen thousand two hundred and seventy-nine. The population

varies from six to fifteen thousand souls, according to the greater or less
yield of the mines. Most of the adult part of this population are, of course,
engaged in mining. This seems to be a calling that distorts much the moral
perception, and engenders very confused ideas of right and wrong. The lust
for money-making seems to have swallowed up all the finer feelings of the
heart, and cut off all the amenities of society. There are no ladies—at least I
saw none in society; and the men meet to discuss the mines, the probable
price of quicksilver, and to slander and abuse each other. There seems to be
no religion here even in form. The churches are mere barns, going to decay;
and I saw no processions or religious ceremonies. Smyth saw a procession
in 1834, but I should doubt if there had been one of these contemptible
mockeries since. Not that the people are getting better, but that their love of
gain is swallowing up even their love of display. Rivero speaks of the
wretched condition of society, and tells of drunkenness, gaming,
assassination, and bad faith, as of things of common occurrence.
I met with much kindness on the part of the few gentlemen whose
acquaintance I made, particularly on that of the sub-prefect, who lodged me
in his house, and, by his frank and sincere manner, made me feel at home;
and I do not say that men here are individually bad; but only speak of the
philosophical fact that mining, as an occupation, has a tendency to debase
men's characters, and destroy those sensibilities and affections that smooth
and soften the rugged path of life. Moreover, I don't speak half so badly of
them as they do of themselves; for one, if he were to seek it, might easily
hear that every individual in the Cerro was a rascal.
The climate of this place is exceedingly uncomfortable, and I should
suppose unhealthy. I could not sleep between sheets, but preferred "the
wollens," with an abundance of them. Rivero states the mean temperature,
during the months of July, August, and September, at 44° in the day, and
35° at night. In these months there is an abundance of snow and hail, which
lowers the thermometer considerably; and even without these it goes down
to 30° and 28° in August. From the middle of October to the end of April
the climate is insupportable from the rains, tempests and lightnings, which
almost every year cause damage. There is a period of fine weather from the
middle of December to the middle of January, called, in the poetic language
and religious turn of thought of the Spaniards, El verano del niño, or the
summer of the child, from its happening about Christmas. The streams,

which are fed from the rains of this country, invariably stop rising, and fall
a little after this period. The temperature is so rigorous here that the hens do
not hatch, nor the llamas procreate; and women, at the period of their
confinement, are obliged to seek a more genial climate, or their offspring
will not live.
Persons recently arrived, particularly if they have weak lungs, suffer
from affections of the chest and difficulty of breathing. The miners suffer
paralysis from the sudden changes of temperature to which they are
exposed in and out of the mines, and from inhaling the fumes of the
mercury in the operation of distilling. Those who suffer in this way are
called azogados, from azogue, (quicksilver.) The most common diseases are
pleurisies, rheumatisms, and a putrid fever called tabardillo. Pleurisies are
said to be cured by taking an infusion of mullaca, an herb which grows in
the neighborhood. It has very small leaves, and gives a small, round, red
fruit.
There is no cultivation in this neighborhood, with the exception of a
little barley, which gives no grain, but is cut for fodder. The market,
however, is well supplied from Huanuco, and the neighboring valleys.
Expenses of living are great, particularly where articles of luxury from the
coast are used.
July 12.—I visited some of the haciendas for grinding the ores. These
mills are also rude. A horizontal water-wheel turns an upright axis, which
passes up through a hole in the centre of the lower stone. The upper stone is
bolted to the side of the axis, and is carried round on its edge upon the
lower one. A very small stream of water trickles continually on the stones,
and carries off the ground ore into a receptacle below, prepared for it, where
the water drains off, and leaves the harina to be carried to the circo. A pair
of stones will grind nearly a caxon a day. A stone of granite, nine feet in
diameter, and twenty inches thick, costs, delivered, one hundred and thirty-
five dollars. It will wear away in six or seven months so as to be unfit for an
upper stone; it then answers for a lower one.
I had a visit from an enthusiastic old gentleman, the Intendente of
Pozuzu, who says that he is about to memorialize Congress for funds and
assistance to carry on a work which he has himself commenced—that is, the

opening of a road from the Cerro direct to Pozuzu, without taking the
roundabout way by Huanuco. He says that he is practically acquainted with
the ground; that it is nearly all pampa, or plain; (people told us the same
thing of the road between Tarma and Chanchamayo;) and that part of it is
over a pajonal, or grassy plain, where there will be no forest to clear. He
says that when the road is opened from the Cerro to Pozuzu, and thence to
Mayro, (the head of navigation on the Pachitea,) communication may be
had and burdens carried between the Cerro and Mayro in four days; also,
that roads may run to the southward from Pozuzu, over a plain, by which
the commerce of foreign countries, coming up the Amazon, may reach
Tarma, Jauxa, and all the towns of the Sierra.
This is the day-dream of the Peruvians of that district. They know the
difficulties of the Cordillera passage, and look earnestly to the eastward for
communication with the world. Though this gentleman is led away by his
enthusiasm, and probably misstates, yet I think he is in the main correct; for
between the Cerro and Mayro there is but one range of the Andes to pass to
arrive at the Montaña, (as is also the case between Tarma and
Chanchamayo;) whereas, by the route through Huanuco there are at least
two, and these very broken, elevated, and rugged. I think that the Ucayali
affords the best means of communication with the interior of Peru, and my
impression is that it is best approached by the way of Chanchamayo. I
hinted this, but my friend hooted at the idea; and I find the same jealousy in
him that I found in the Tarma people. Both here and there they say it will be
a great day for them when the Americans get near them with a steamer.
July 13.—I had unfortunately selected a feast-day, and one, too, on
which there was a regular bull fight, (the first that had been seen in the
Cerro,) for my departure, and found great difficulty in getting off. The
muleteers I had engaged were drunk at an early hour, and not making their
appearance, I had to send the police after them. It is really curious to
observe how entirely indifferent to the fulfilment of a promise these people
are, and how very general the vice is. These muleteers had given me the
strongest assurances that they would be at my door by daylight, and yet
when they made the promise they had not the slightest idea of keeping it.
The habit seems to be acquiesced in and borne with patience by even the
true and promise-keeping English. My friend, Mr. Jump, did not sympathize

in the least with my fretfulness, and seemed surprised that I expected to get
off.
I desire to express my thanks to him, and the amiable members of his
family, Mr. and Mrs. Biggs, for those kind attentions that cheer the heart
and renew the energies of the worn wayfarer.

CHAPTER VI.
Departure from Cerro Pasco—Mint at Quinua—San Rafael—Ambo—
Quicacan—Huanuco—Cerro de Carpis—Chinchao valley—Huallaga river.
By cajoling, and threats of appeal to the military, (a small military force
is stationed here as a police,) we got our drunken vagabonds to "load up"
and set off by half-past 1 p. m. One of them gave us the slip at the outskirts
of the town. The other wished to look him up, or at least to get the key of a
tambo where two spare mules belonging to them were locked up; but we
would not hear of it; and driving the loaded mules on, he was fain to follow.
The deserter joined us at our stopping-place for the night, but on finding the
condition of things, he had to return to the Cerro for his missing beasts.
Almost immediately on leaving the Cerro, and ascending the hills that
encircled it on the north, we came in sight of the Eastern Andes, which is
here a Cordillera, for it has many abrupt and snow-clad peaks. Close at
hand, on the left, was a spot of marshy ground, which had some interest for
us, as we were not to quit the waters which we saw trickling in tiny streams
from it, until, swelled by many others, they pour themselves into the
Atlantic by a mouth one hundred and eighty miles broad. This is the source
of the Huallaga, one of the head tributaries of the Amazon.
Seven miles in a N. N. E. direction, and passing many haciendas for the
grinding of ore, brought us to the village of Quinua, where a mint was
established several years ago, but is now abandoned. The machinery for
coining is much better than any I have seen in South America. It was made
by a Boston man, named Hacket, who also made nearly all the machinery
for the sugar-mills near Huanuco. There are gold mines in this

neighborhood, but I think they are not worked. This village is just at the
point where, leaving the sterility of the Cerro, we fall in with bushes and
flowers.
Four miles further we stopped for the night at a hacienda called
Chiquirin, which appears once to have been flourishing, but which is now
nearly abandoned, being only tenanted by an old man to take care of the
house. The bridge, which crossed the stream in front of the house, had had
arched gateways at each end; and a respectable-looking church occupied
one side of the patio. A field or two of barley is all the cultivation now
about it. Indeed, there seemed little room for more, for the hills on each side
now began to close in and present the appearance of mountains; and I have
no doubt that, though still going down hill, we have begun to cross the
second range of the Andes. We could get no supper at this place. I was tired
enough to care little about it. Had Ijurra been with us, he would probably
have found something; but he was absent, having dropped the compass on
the road and ridden back to look for it. The height of Chiquirin, by boiling
point, is eleven thousand five hundred and forty-two feet above the level of
the sea.
July 14.—We had a pleasant ride down the valley, which opens a little
and gives room for some cultivation. There were pinks and holy-hocks in
the little gardens adjoining the cottages; also cabbages, lettuce, and onions.
We stopped to breakfast at Caxarmarquilla, a village of some eight or ten
houses. The cura received me hospitably, and gave me some breakfast. He
told me there were one hundred and fifty souls in the Doctrina. I should
judge there were about thirty in the village. The rock of this district is red
sandstone and conglomerate. At six miles further we passed a hacienda,
where there were roses in bloom, and the flowering pea, with wheat on the
hill-side, and a grist-mill; also, alfalfa and maize. Immediately afterwards, a
valley from the southward and eastward joined the one I was travelling in,
bringing its stream of water to swell the Huallaga. Gypsum crops out of the
hills on the road-side, making the roads white. Houses here are
whitewashed with it. A mile further is the village of Huariaca, a long,
straggling place of one, and in some places two streets. It contains about
seven or eight hundred inhabitants. I thought I saw more white people and
more industry in this place than is common in the small Sierra towns. We
met continually mules laden with tobacco, coca, and fruit, going from

Huanuco and the Montaña beyond it to the Cerro. We stopped, at half-past
five, at San Rafael, an Indian town of some two hundred and fifty souls,
with a white lieutenant governor, and put up at his house.
I had my bed made inside, instead of outside the house, which was a
mistake, as I was "pigging in" with all the family; and from want of air, and
villanous smell, expected to catch tabardillo before morning. The
thermometer was at 62° at 7 p. m., and I imagine did not fall lower than 50°
during the night; so that I could very well have slept outside, and advise all
travellers to do so, providing themselves with warm bed-clothing. Here I
was joined by Ijurra, whom I was very glad to see, and the delinquent
arriero, with his two mules. The height of San Rafael, by boiling point, is
eight thousand five hundred and fifty-one feet above the level of the sea.

Rivero del. Wagner & McGuigan's Lith. Phila.

CERRO DE PASCO.
Pl. 10.

Rivero del. Wagner & McGuigan's Lith. Phila.

MINER, CERRO PASCO.
Pl. 11.

Rivero del. Wagner & McGuigan's Lith. Phila.

ORE CARRIER, CERRO PASCO.
Pl. 12.

July 15.—We got alfalfa for our mules, but it is now getting very
scarce. The valley, after leaving San Rafael, is very narrow, and the road
rises and falls along the bare flanks of the mountains. The character of the
rock is a dark schist; the growth, willows—palma christi—maguey, (a
species of cactus, with a very long, broad, yet sharp-pointed leaf,) which
throws out from the centre of a clump of leaves a light stalk of three or four
inches diameter at the base, and frequently thirty feet in height. This flowers
towards the top, and bears a sort of nut-like fruit. The stem is much used for
roofing houses, and the broad, thick leaves serve for thatch.

We shot at condors hovering over a dead mule, and saw a small hawk
of variegated and pretty plumage, of a species which we had before seen
near Oroya. About ten miles from San Rafael we were crossing the highest
part of the chain. An opening in the mountains to the right gave us a view of
some splendid snow-clad peaks. After an hour's ride over a precipitous and
broken path, rendered dangerous in some places by the sliding of the earth
and soft rock from above upon it, we commenced a very sharp descent,
which brought us, in fifteen minutes, to fruit-trees and a patch of sugar-cane
on the banks of the stream. The sudden transition from rugged mountain
peaks, where there was no cultivation, to a tropical vegetation, was
marvellous. A few miles further on we crossed the boundary-line between
the provinces of Pasco and Huanuco. The transition is agreeable, and I was
glad to exchange the mining for the agricultural country. At half-past four,
we arrived at the town of Ambo, a village of one thousand inhabitants,
situated at the junction of the rivers Huacar and Huallaga. The former
stream comes down a ravine to the westward; each is about thirty-five yards
broad, and, uniting, they pour their waters by the town with great velocity.
The rock of this region is mostly an argillaceous schist, though just above
Ambo the road was bordered by a perpendicular hill of beautiful red
sandstone. The strata all along this route are nearly north and south in their
directions, and have an inclination upwards towards the north of from forty
to seventy degrees.
Two miles from Ambo, on the right or opposite bank of the river, is
another very pretty little village, almost hidden in the luxuriant vegetation
about it. The whole valley now becomes very beautiful. From the road on
which we were travelling to the river's brink, (a breadth of quarter of a
mile,) the land (which is a rich river bottom) is laid off into alternate fields
of sugar cane and alfalfa. The blended green and yellow of this growth,
divided by willows, interspersed with fruit-trees, and broken into wavy
lines by the serpentine course of the river, presented a gay and cheerful
appearance, which, contrasting with the forbidding aspect of the rocks we
had just left, filled us with pleasurable emotions, and indicated that we had
exchanged a semi-barbarous for a civilized society. The only drawback with
me was excessive fatigue. When Ijurra rode back to Cerro Pasco for the
compass, he happened to be mounted on my mule. This gave her extra
work; and the ride of to-day was a long one, so that the little beast by this

time could barely put one foot before the other. There is scarcely anything
more fatiguing than to ride a tired horse; and when I arrived (at five) at the
hospitable gates of the hacienda of Quicacan, and with difficulty lifted
myself out of the saddle, it was with the deep sigh which always
accompanies relief from pain, and which was much more pleasurable than
the sight of waving fields and babbling brooks.
The owner of the hacienda—an English gentleman, named Dyer, to
whom I brought letters from Cerro Pasco—received me and my large party
exactly as if it were a matter of course, and as if I had quite as much right to
enter his house as I had to enter an inn. The patio was filled with horses,
belonging to a large party from Huanuco bound to Lima, and every seat in
the ample portico seemed filled. I was somewhat surprised at the size and
appointments of the establishment. It looked like a little village of itself,
with its offices and workshops. The dwelling—a large, substantial, though
low building, with a corridor in front supported on massive arches, and
having the spaces between the pillars enclosed with iron wire to serve for
cages for numerous rare and pretty birds—occupied one side of the
enclosed square; store-rooms occupied another; the sugar-house, another;
and a chapel, the fourth. A bronze fountain, with an ample basin, decorated
the centre. I was strongly reminded of the large farm-houses in some parts
of Virginia: the same number of servants bustling about in each other's way;
the children of the master and the servant all mixed up together; the same in
the hospitable welcome to all comers; the same careless profusion. When I
saw the servants dragging out mattresses and bed-clothing from some
obscure room, and going with them to different parts of the house to make
pallets for the visitors who intended to spend the night, I seemed carried
back to my boyish days, and almost fancied that I was at a country wedding
in Virginia. We dined at six in another spacious corridor, enclosed with
glass, and looking out upon a garden rich with grape-vines and flowers.
After dinner, the party broke up into groups for cards or conversation,
which continued until ten o'clock brought tea and bed-time.
I conversed with an intelligent and manly Frenchman named Escudero.
His account of the seeking and gathering of Peruvian bark was exceedingly
interesting; and I should judge that it is an occupation which involves much
fatigue and exposure. He spoke very highly of the mechanical abilities of

my countryman, Miguel Hacket, and gave me a letter to deliver to him
wherever I might find him.
I also had some talk with quite a pretty young woman, who had come
from Quito by the way of the Pastaza, Marañon, and Huallaga rivers. She
said she was scared at the malos pasos, or rapids of the river, and never
could relish monkey soup; but what gave her most uneasiness was the polite
attention of the Huambisas Indians. She declared that this was frightful, and
swore a good round oath, (that might have satisfied Hotspur in a lady,)
"Caramba! but they were mad for a white wife." Report here says that she
prefers Yankee to Indian, and is about to bestow her hand upon a long
countryman of ours, the head blacksmith, named Blake.
July 16.—Dyer had put me into a wide "four-poster." None but a
traveller in these parts can imagine the intense pleasure with which I took
off my clothes and stretched my weary limbs between linen sheets, and laid
my head upon a pillow with a frilled case to it. I could scarcely sleep for the
enjoyment of the luxury. Rest, too, has renewed my beast; and the little
black, which I thought last night was entirely done up, is this morning as
lively as a filly.
The sugar-mill of Quicacan is composed of an overshot wheel, turned
by a race brought from the river far above, and giving motion to three heavy
brass cylinders that crush the cane between them. The juice falls into a
receptacle below, and is led off by a trough to the boilers, which are
arranged in order over the furnaces like a common kitchen range. After a
certain amount of boiling, it is poured by means of ladles into wooden
moulds, greased and laid on the ground in rows. This makes the chancaca,
so much used throughout Peru. It supplies the place, in this country, to the
lower classes, which the wares of candy shops do in our own. Two of the
moulds are put together and enveloped in the leaf of the cane. They make a
pound, and are sold at the hacienda for six and a quarter cents.
Cutting the cane, bringing it in, stripping it and cutting off the tops,
supplying the mill, boiling the sugar, and making the chancaca, employ
about twenty men and four mules. With this force one hundred dollars'
worth of chancaca may be made in a day; but Mr. Dyer says that he is not
now making more than twenty or thirty dollars, and not paying his

expenses. He attributes this to the fact that his fields are wearing out and
require replanting. He thinks that cane should be replanted every ten or
fifteen years. It is fit for cutting in twelve months after planting. This is a
very extensive establishment; and Mr. Dyer, besides his cane-fields, which
are on the river side, cultivates a farm for raising wheat, maize, peas, beans,
and potatoes, on the hills above.
We left Quicacan at noon, in company with Mr. Dyer and my French
friend; stopped at another hacienda, about a mile and a half from this,
belonging to a gentleman named Ingunza, and at another a little lower
down, called Andabamba, belonging to Señor San Miguel, to whom I
brought letters from Lima. All these, with another on the same road,
belonged to a Colonel Lucar, of Huanuco, who gave them to these
gentlemen, his sons-in-law. Quicacan was the family mansion, and had been
longest under cultivation. At half-past four we arrived at Huanuco, and,
presenting a letter to Colonel Lucar, from his son-in-law Dyer, we were
kindly received, and lodgings appointed us in his spacious and commodious
house.
July 17.—Huanuco is one of the most ancient cities in Peru. It is
prettily situated on the left bank of the Huanuco or Huallaga river, which is
here about forty yards wide, and at this time (the dry season) about two feet
deep in the channel. It, however, every two or three hundred yards, runs
over rocks or a gravelly bed, which makes it entirely innavigable, even for
canoes, though when the river is up I believe articles are transported on it
from hacienda to hacienda in small scows. A smaller stream, called the
Higueros, empties into it just above the city.
The houses are built of adobe, with tile roofs, and almost all have large
gardens attached to them—so that the city covers a good deal of ground
without having many houses. The gardens are filled with vegetables and
fruit-trees, and make delightful places of recreation during the warmer parts
of the day.
The population numbers from four to five thousand. They seem to be a
simple and primitive people; and, like all who have little to do, are much
attached to religious ceremonies—there being no less than fifteen churches
in the city, some of them quite large and handsome. The people are civil and

respectful, and, save a curious stare now and then at my spectacles and red
beard, are by no means offensive in their curiosity, as Smyth represents
them to have been some seventeen years ago.
The trade of the place is with Cerro Pasco on the one hand, and the
villages of the Huallaga on the other. It sends chancaca, tobacco, fruit, and
vegetables to the Cerro, and receives foreign goods (mostly English) in
return. A shop-keeper gave me the price of some of the articles in his store:
Broad striped cassimere, such as gentlemen's trousers are made of, five and
a half dollars the yard; very common silk handkerchiefs, one dollar;
common silk hat, five dollars; blue cloth drillings, twenty-five cents the
yard; baize, eighty-seven and a half cents; narrow ribbon, one dollar and
twenty-five cents the piece; cotton handkerchiefs, two dollars and twenty-
five cents the dozen; tolerable Scotch carpeting, one dollar and a half the
vara, of thirty-three English inches; bayeta castilla, (a kind of serge or
woollen cloth, with a long shag upon it, and of rich colors,) one dollar and
seventy-five cents the vara. In the market, beef and mutton from the
province of Huamalies sell at six and a quarter cents the pound; Indian corn,
twenty-five cents the olla, of twenty-five pounds; potatoes, seventy-five
cents for the costal, of fifty pounds; salt, from the coast at Huacho, six and
a quarter cents the pound; sugar, generally from the coast, twenty-five cents
the pound, (this in an eminently sugar country;) coffee, twelve and a half
cents. Very little meat is raised. I saw a small quantity of pork, with plenty
of tallow candles; and rotten potatoes for the consumption of the Indians.
Bread is good, but is generally made, in the best houses, of American flour
from Lima. Vegetables and fruit are abundant and cheap. This is, par
excellence, the country of the celebrated chirimoya. I have seen this fruit in
Huanuco quite twice as large as it is generally seen in Lima, and of most
delicious flavor. They have a custom here to cover the finest specimens
with gold leaf, and place them as a decoration on the altar of some patron
Saint on his festival. The church afterwards sells them; and I have seen
several on Colonel Lucar's table.
This gentleman is probably the richest and most influential man in
Huanuco. He seems to have been the father of husbandry in these parts, and
is the very type of the old landed proprietor of Virginia, who has lived
always upon his estates, and attended personally to their cultivation. Seated
at the head of his table, with his hat on to keep the draught from his head—

and which he would insist upon removing unless I would wear mine—his
chair surrounded by two or three little negro children, whom he fed with
bits from his plate; and attending with patience and kindness to the
clamorous wants of a pair of splendid peacocks, a couple of small parrots of
brilliant and variegated plumage, and a beautiful and delicate monkey—I
thought I had rarely seen a more perfect pattern of the patriarch. His kind
and affectionate manner to his domestics, (all slaves,) and to his little
grandchildren, a pair of sprightly boys, who came in in the evening from the
college, was also very pleasing. There are thirty servants attached to the
house, large and small; and the family is reduced to the Colonel and his
lady, (at present absent,) and the boys.
The climate of Huanuco is very equable and very salubrious. There are
no cases of affection of the chest which commence here; on the contrary,
people with diseases caused by the inclemency of the weather about Cerro
Pasco come to Huanuco to be cured. Dysentery and tabardillo are the
commonest diseases; and I see many people (particularly women) with
goitre. I saw a woman who had one that seemed to arise under each ear and
encircle the throat like an inflated life-preserver. The affection is said to be
owing to the impurity of the water, which is not fit to drink unless filtered.
The lower class of people do not attend to this, and thus the disease is more
general with them than with the higher classes. It is disagreeable to walk
out in the middle of the day, on account of a strong northerly wind, which
sets in at this season about noon, and lasts till dark, raising clouds of dust.
The mornings and evenings are very pleasant, though the sun is hot for an
hour or two before the breeze sets in. The height of Huanuco above the
level of the sea is, by boiling point, five thousand nine hundred and forty-
six feet.
There is a college with about twenty-two "internal," and eighty day-
scholars. Its income, derived from lands formerly belonging to convents, is
seven thousand and five hundred dollars yearly. It has a fine set of chemical
and other philosophical apparatus, with one thousand specimens of
European minerals. These things were purchased in Europe, at a cost of five
thousand dollars; and the country owes them to the zeal for learning and
exertions of Don Mariano Eduardo de Rivero, formerly prefect of the
department, director general of the mines, and now consul general to the
Netherlands, where he is said to be preparing a voluminous work on the

antiquities of Peru. As I shall probably not have occasion to refer to him
again, I must in this place express my sense of gratitude for the information
I have received from his most valuable publication, "The Memorial of
Natural Sciences, and of National and Foreign Industry," edited by himself
and Don Nicolas Pierola, the modest and learned director of the museum at
Lima. The Department of Junin owes much to its former prefect. He has
founded schools, improved roads, built cemeteries, and, in short, whatever
good thing I noticed on my route might generally be traced back to Rivero.
July 18.—I called on the sub-prefect of the province, and delivered an
official letter from the prefect of the department, whom I had visited at
Cerro Pasco. This gentleman's name is Maldonado. He received me
courteously, and promised me any assistance I might stand in need of. He
seemed to be at bitter feud with all my friends; and they represented him as
a high-handed personage. We met at Quicacan a colonel who was going to
Lima, escorted by a number of his friends, to complain to the government
of his having been illegally imprisoned by the sub-prefect. I believe the
cause was an alleged libel, or libellous publication against the sub-prefect;
and if it was of the nature of some of the publications daily seen in the Lima
papers, he deserved imprisonment, or worse punishment, for they are
generally the foulest and most scurrilous things, which no decent paper in
the United States would publish, and which would certainly bring upon the
writer a fine or the horse-whip.
People in Huanuco are fully alive to the importance of opening the
navigation of the Huallaga to their city. They speak of it as a thing that
would be of incalculable advantage to them; and their leaders and
influential men have often urged them to be up and doing. But, although
they cannot be stirred up to the undertaking themselves, they are jealous of
the attempt by any other route. I had a visit this evening from my Cerro
Pasco acquaintance, the Intendente of Pozuzu. The old gentleman
discoursed long and earnestly about his route from the Cerro to Pozuzu, and
thence to Mayro. When he went away, Colonel Lucar asked me what I
called that science in my country that put people to sleep; and when I told
him that it was animal magnetism, he said that that old man was a capital
magnetiser, for he had been to sleep an hour. I think there was some
jealousy in this.

Rice, tobacco, and straw hats, in small quantities, are now brought on
the backs of Indians from the towns on the Huallaga to Huanuco.
Colonel Lucar showed me his "cuarto de habios," or room where he
keeps all his horse furniture. He has at least a dozen saddles of various
patterns, with bridles, pillons, horse-cloths, holsters, and everything
complete. Most of the bridles and stirrups are heavily plated with silver.
People take great care of their horses in this country, and are generally good
horsemen. There are one or two carriages and gigs in Huanuco, made in
England.
I sold my mules to the Colonel for half that I had given for them, with
the condition that we should ride them as far as practicable and send them
back by the arriero. The old gentleman agreed to it, though rather
reluctantly. He said that some fifteen years ago, a countryman of mine, and
calling himself an officer of the navy also, had sold him his mules for
pistols and fowling-pieces, on the same terms; but when he arrived at the
end of his journey, he sold the mules again, and went off with the proceeds.
The Colonel could not give me the name of this honest individual. I
afterwards ascertained that he was not an American, but a German.
July 22.—Much to my annoyance our servant Mauricio deserted this
morning. Ijurra accuses me of having spoiled him by indulgence; and I, on
the other hand, think that he had disgusted him by tyranny. I imagine he
went back to Lima with Castillo, a young man who had been governor of
the district of Tarapoto, on the Huallaga, and who was going to Lima with
stuffed birds' skins to sell. This was an intelligent young man, who gave me
information about the Montaña. He said I would be amply protected in my
contemplated voyage up the Ucayali with twenty-five Chasutinos, (Indians
of Chasuta,) for they were a brave and hardy people; but that the Cocamas
and Cocamillos, from about the mouth of the river, were great cowards, and
would desert me on the first appearance of the savages—that they had so
treated him. I rather suspect that the reason for Don Mauricio's shabby
behavior was, that we were getting into his own country, and that he had
private reasons for desiring to avoid a visit home. He had asked me at
Tarma to let him go with Gibbon.

Our arriero made his appearance at noon, instead of early in the
morning, as he had promised; but we are now getting used to this. We did
not ride our own mules, as they were sick and not in condition to travel, and
the arriero supplied us with others. I got a horse, but did not derive much
benefit from the exchange. Our course lay down the valley N. E., crossing
the river soon after leaving the town by a rude bridge floored with the
leaves of the maguey. We found the road good, but rocky, principally with
the debris of quartz. Gold is occasionally found, but in small quantities, in
the mountains bordering this valley. At six miles from Huanuco we passed
the village of Sta. Maria del Valle, of three hundred inhabitants. We stopped
and took some fruit and pisco with the curate, to whom also I had a letter
from Lima.
Every traveller in this country should provide himself with letters of
introduction. People, it is true, will receive him without them, but do not
use that cordial and welcome manner which is so agreeable.
The cura had some fifty or sixty new and well-bound books on shelves,
and seemed a man superior to the generality of his class. He said that Valle
was a poor place, producing only sugar-cane, which the inhabitants put to
no other use than to make huarapo to drink; and that, if it were not for the
neighborhood of Huanuco, he thought that he should starve. Huarapo is the
fermented juice of the cane, and is a very pleasant drink of a hot day.
We saw a few sheep and goats after leaving the village. The trees were
principally willow and fruit-trees, with here and there a cotton tree, bearing
indifferent staple. The mountains on the left, or Huanuco side, send down
spurs towards the river, between which are pretty little valleys, not deep and
narrow, but spread out like a fan. In each one of these there is situated a
small village or a hacienda, presenting, with its fields of cane and alfalfa,
and, higher up, wheat, a very pretty appearance. It is not so on the right
bank. The small streams that flow into the river from this side come down
rugged ravines, with sides of soft rock and white earth, and are generally
very muddy. We stopped two miles beyond Valle at a hacienda called
Chullqui, and slept in an Indian hut with several other people, one a sick
woman with a child two days old. Height of Chullqui, by B. P., five
thousand six hundred and twenty-six feet above the level of the sea.

July 23.—Course still N. E. along the banks of the Huallaga. Trees
principally small acacias. At six miles from Chullqui we crossed the river,
turned to the north, and ascended a ravine (down which flowed a small
stream) to the village of Acomayo. The river continues its course to the
northward and eastward and sweeps around the base of the hills, which
form (going up) the right-hand side of the Quebrada, up which we were
travelling. The road which we had left, continuing along the banks of the
river, leads to Panao, Muña, and Pozuzu; Smyth's route to the Pachitea.
Acomayo is a very pleasantly-situated village, of about three hundred
inhabitants. When the authorities are asked concerning the population of
any place, they always give the number of families. This place has seventy
"casados," or couples of married people; and I judge, from experience, that
five to each family is a fair allowance. The water here is very good, which
was an agreeable change from the Huanuco water; and the fruits, oranges,
figs, guavas, and chirimoyas, are of good quality. I noticed, also, a tree
bearing a large bell-shaped flower, called floripondio. This is an old
acquaintance of mine; it gives out a delicious fragrance at night, which,
accompanied, as I have known it, by soft air, rich moon-light, and gentle
company, makes bare existence a happiness.
About three miles up the "Quebrada" we turned to the northeast, and
commenced the ascent of the Cerro de Carpis. This is one of a range of
mountains running to the southward and eastward, forming the left-hand
side of the valley of Acomayo, (looking down the stream,) and dividing the
Sierra from the Montaña. The ascent is six miles long, and very tedious. I
had no water to ascertain its height by the boiling-point apparatus, but
judge, from the great descent to Cashi, (a distance of four miles, and so
steep that we preferred to walk and lead our beasts,) that the pass is full
eight thousand feet above the level of the sea; Cashi being six thousand five
hundred and forty feet.
There is said to be a superb view of the Montaña from the summit of
this hill, but the clouds (almost within reach of the hand) boiling up from
the great deep below effectually cut it off, and we could see nothing. When
we had got some distance down, and obtained a view through an opening in
the thick growth of the mountain-side, we looked down upon the most
rugged country I have ever seen. There seemed to be no order or regularity

in the hills, which were thickly covered with forest; but the whole had the
appearance of the surface of a vast boiling caldron suddenly stricken
motionless. Just at the summit, and where the road turns to descend,
hundreds of little wooden crosses were placed in the niches of the rock—
votive offerings of the pious arrieros, either of gratitude for dangers passed,
or for protection against dangers to come, in the ascent or descent of the
mountain.
We walked down the descent, leading the beasts. The road was very
rocky and muddy, and the mountain-side was clad with small trees and
thick undergrowth. There were many creepers and parasitical plants, some
of them very graceful and pretty. We stopped, at six, at a tambo called
Cashi, built on a plat, about half-way down the mountain. We found our
place of rest very agreeable; night clear, calm, and cold.
July 24.—An hour's travel brought us to the bottom of the hill, where
we encountered the Chinchao valley coming down from the right. We
crossed the stream that flowed through it, and travelled down the valley on
its right bank, the road rising and falling on the sides of the hills. The
character of the rock is a dark slate-stone, with occasional beds of gypsum.
At seven miles from the tambo we passed the village of Chinchao,
containing twelve houses and a church, with cotton, coffee, orange, and
plantain trees scattered about the village. A pretty shrub, bearing a gay, red
flower, in appearance like our crape myrtle, bordered the road-side. It is
called San Juan, because it blooms about St. John's day, the 24th of June,
like the Amancaes at Lima. The cultivation of the coca commences here.
I brought a letter from the sub-prefect at Huanuco, for the governor of
Chinchao, but he was absent at his chacra, and not to be found. We then
asked for the lieutenant governor; but though there seemed, from the
general account, to be such a person, we could not find out exactly who he
was, or where he lived. The arriero said he lived "a little lower down;" but
at every house at which we called in our descent the reply still was mas
abajo, (yet lower.) At last we seemed to have treed him, and even the man's
wife was produced; but after a little conversation it appeared that our friend
was still mas abajo. I was tired and hungry enough to wish he was—where
he could not get any lower, for we had depended upon our letter for a
breakfast. We continued our weary route, and at the next house (the best-

looking we had seen) encountered a white woman, rather shrewish-looking,
indeed, but still a woman, synonym everywhere for kindness. Ijurra civilly
inquired if we could get a few eggs. I think our appearance, particularly the
guns slung behind the saddles, bred mistrust, for we met with the invariable
lie, no hay, (haven't got any.) I couldn't be baffled in this way: so, taking off
my hat, and making my best bow, in my most insinuating tones I said "that
we had something to eat in our saddle-bags, and would be very much
obliged if La Señora would permit us to alight and take our breakfast there."
She softened down at once, and said that if we had any tea she could give us
some nice fresh milk to mix with it. We had no tea, but declared, with many
thanks, that the milk would be very acceptable. Whereupon, it was put on to
boil; and, moreover, a dozen fresh eggs, and boiled to perfection, were also
produced. I enjoyed the breakfast very much, and was pluming myself on
the effect of my fine address, when (alas for my vanity!) the lady, after
looking at my companion for some time, said to him, "Aren't you un tal (a
certain) Ijurra?" He said yes. "Then we are old playmates," said she. "Don't
you recollect our play-ground, your old uncle's garden in Huanuco, and the
apples you used to steal out of it to give me? I'm Mercedes Prado." Here
was the solution to the enigma of our reception. Strange to say, the name
awoke pleasant recollections in me also, and set before me the features of
the gay and beautiful young girl whose quick repartee and merry laugh
added so much to the charm of Valparaiso society.
The house of our hostess was very like a capsized ship, with the cut-
water and upper part of the bows sawn off to make an entrance. It had a
regular breast-hook made of saplings twisted together over the door, a
kelson reaching from this to a very perfect stern frame, and, had the ribs
been curved instead of straight, the likeness would have been exact. It was
about fifty feet long, and made an airy and commodious residence. I was
surprised to find that we were in the upper story of it, for we had entered
from the ground without steps; but I afterwards discovered that we had
entered from an esplanade cut in the side of the hill, levelled for the purpose
of drying coca leaves, and that the lower story was at the bottom of the hill,
the entrance facing the other way.
We went on our way rejoicing. The arriero had gone on ahead; and
when we arrived at a chacra, called Atajo, at half-past four, we found that he
had unloaded the mules. I was quite angry at his stopping so soon, and

ordered him to load up again; but finding that he went to work to do it, I let
him off, cautioning him against unloading without orders. The means of
living are getting very scarce. We could get nothing to eat, and had to draw
upon our charqui. The people of the hut seem contented with a chupe made
of lard, with ullucas and young onions. Nights still cool; Ther. at 7 p. m.,
61°; elevation of "Atajo," three thousand nine hundred and ten feet.
July 25.—The road from this place leaves the banks of the stream and
ascends the hills on the right by a very steep and tedious ascent. The rocks
of the road are a mica slate, and at the top of the hills a dark schist, white on
the outside from exposure to the atmosphere. After arriving at the summit,
we turned N. E. by N., and passed the haciendas called Mesa pata (the top
of the table) and Casapi, which seemed abandoned. The road hence is a
very rough descent, and a mere path through the bushes; the earth white,
like lime, with gypsum cropping out occasionally. Near night we stopped at
Chihuangala, the last hacienda of the valley, and beyond which there is no
mule-road. The arrieros left us to seek pasturage. This is our last dealing
with this gentry. I was glad to dismount, for I was tired of riding; but in
spite of the abuse that is generally heaped upon the arrieros, I think I have
had little difficulty to complain of. They seem to be tolerably honest and
faithful, (when once on the road,) and, with judicious treatment, one can get
along with them very comfortably. It rained heavily all the latter part of the
night.
July 26.—At this place we were to await the Indians from Tingo Maria,
(a village at the head of canoe navigation on the Huallaga,) to carry our
luggage on. Ijurra had written from Huanuco to the governor of Tingo
Maria, requesting him to send them to us at Chihuangala, sending the letter
by one of Castillo's company who was returning.
We had hard commons here, our charqui beginning to decay. No eggs;
no potatoes; nothing, in fact, but yuccas and bananas. There were turkeys,
chickens, and a pig running about the chacra; but no entreaty, nor any
reasonable offer of money, could induce the people to sell us one. I offered
the patrona a dollar and a half for a half-grown turkey; but she said she
must wait till her husband came in from his work, so that she might consult
him. When he came, after long debate, it was decided that they would sell
me a chicken for breakfast to-morrow. I tried hard to find out why they

were so reluctant to sell, for they do not eat them themselves; but did not
succeed. I believe it to be something like the miser-feeling of parting with
property, the not being used to money, and also a dislike to kill what they
have reared and seen grow up under their own eye.
Our patrona had six or seven children: one an infant, which, when she
puts to sleep, she enwraps closely in a woollen cloth, and swathes tightly,
over arms and all, with a broad thick band, so that it is perfectly stiff, and
looks like a log of wood, or a roll of cloth. I asked why she did this, but
could only get the reply that it was the "custom here." The young women of
the country have very good features, and appear lively and good-tempered.
Two daughters of the patrona came in on a visit to-day. I suppose they are
out at work (probably as house servants) in some neighboring hacienda.
They were dressed in red calicoes, always open in the back, and with the
invariable shawl; and one of them had ruffles of cotton lace around the
bottom of the sleeves, which did not reach to the elbow. The girls were
nearly as dark as Indians, but I presume they had a mixture of white blood.
July 28.—I walked, in company with Ijurra, about three miles to visit a
Señor Martins, at his hacienda of Cocheros. We found this gentleman a
clever and intelligent Portuguese, who had passed many years in this
country. He knew Smyth, and had helped him along on this route. His wife
is Doña Juana del Rio, a very lady-like person, in spite of her common
country costume. It was quite surprising to see a Limeña, and one who had
evidently lived in the first circles of that city, in this wild country, and in
this rude though comfortable house. The floor was earth, and I saw no
chairs. The lady sat in a hammock, and the men either on the mud benches
around the sides of the room, or on a coarse wooden one alongside of a
coarse table. Part of the house was curtained off into small bed-rooms.
There was evident plenty, and great comparative comfort about the house;
also, a fine lot of handsome, intelligent-looking children. Señor Martins told
me that this Quebrada produced seven hundred cargas of coca yearly. A
carga is two hundred and sixty pounds. The value in Huanuco is generally
three dollars the arroba. This would make the value of the crop twenty-one
thousand eight hundred and forty dollars. The hire of the seven hundred
mules required to carry it to Huanuco is two thousand eight hundred dollars,
which reduces the value to about nineteen thousand dollars. There are not
many haciendas, but a number of small farms; the owners of which sell

their coca on the spot for two dollars the arroba. I asked Martins the reason
why I had seen several of the haciendas abandoned, particularly his own
large one of Casapi. He said there were two causes: one being a large ant
that ate the coca leaves, and which, when once established in a plantation,
was difficult to get rid of; and another was the scarcity of labor—that it was
barely to be had in the Quebrada; that he had six laborers on his hacienda;
and that he was at least two thousand dollars in advance to them. The
money, of course, had been advanced to them in the shape of supplies, and I
suppose these laborers are now as effectually slaves as if they were so by
law.
Nothing is sold from this valley but coca. Only sufficient coffee and
sugar cane are planted for the use of the inhabitants. Señor Martins gave us
some very good caçacha, or rum made from the cane, and some tolerable
pine-apples and plantains. A little cotton is cultivated, and a coarse cloth is
woven by hand from it. Every old woman goes about her household
avocations with a bunch of cotton in her hand, and a spindle hanging below.
I was surprised not to see any wild animals, though I am told that there are
deer, hares, tiger-cats, and animals of the mink kind, that occasionally run
off with the poultry. There are not so many birds as I expected; those I have
seen are generally of a gay and rich plumage. Insect life is very abundant,
and nearly all sting or bite. The climate is very pleasant, though the sun is
hot in mid-day. The diseases, which occur rarely, are cutaneous affections,
tabardillo, and sometimes small-pox.
We met, at Cocheros, an English botanist, named Nation, upon whose
track we have been ever since leaving Lima. He was the gardener of Souza
Ferreyra, the Brazilian Chargé in Lima, and I believe was collecting plants
for him. Poor fellow! he had had a hard time of it; he lost his mule not long
after leaving Lima, and walked from Surco to Morococha, where some kind
person supplied him with another. He has also had tertiana whenever he has
gone into the Montaña. He was alone, and spoke no Spanish, but he had
combatted obstacles and difficulties with a spirit and perseverance
deserving all praise. I was sorry for his mishaps, but could not help
laughing at him a little when I observed that the bats had nearly eaten his
mule up. The poor beast was covered with blood all over, and had nearly
lost an eye from their bites. Mr. Nation has sent a great many specimens of

plants to Lima, and says that the "flora" of this country is rich, and almost
identical with that of Brazil.
On our return from Cocheros we stopped at the house of a man who
had, the day before, promised to sell us a fowl; with the usual want of good
faith of these people, he now refused. Ijurra took the gun from my hand,
and, before I was aware what he was about to do, shot a turkey. The man
and his wife made a great outcry over it, and he was hurrying off, with
furious gestures and menacing language, to report the matter to his patron,
when a few kind words, the helping myself to a chew of coca out of his
huallqui, or leathern bag, in which it is carried, and the offer of a dollar and
a half, which before he had indignantly spurned, changed his mood, and he
smiled and expressed himself satisfied, now that the thing was done and it
could not be helped. I had been often told by travellers that this was
frequently necessary to get something to eat, but had always set my mind
resolutely against any such injustice and oppression; and I expressed my
opinion of the matter to Ijurra, and requested that the like should not occur
again. The elevation of Chihuangala is three thousand four hundred and
twenty-one feet above the level of the sea.
July 30.—At 10 a. m., when we had begun to despair of the coming of
our Indians, and Ijurra was about to start alone for Tingo Maria, for the
purpose of fetching them, they came shouting into the chacra, thirteen in
number. They were young, slight, but muscular-looking fellows, all life and
energy; and wanted to shoulder the trunks and be off at once. We, however,
gave them some charqui, and set them to breakfast. At noon we started, and
descended the valley of Chinchao in a N. N. E. direction; the path steep and
obstructed with bushes.
At about six miles from Chihuangala we arrived at the junction of the
Chinchao river with the Huallaga, in a heavy shower of rain, with thunder
and lightning. By leaving the Huallaga at Acomayo, below Huanuco,
crossing a range of mountains at the Cerro de Carpis, striking the head of
the valley of Chinchao, and descending it, we had cut off a great bend of the
river, and now struck it again at the junction of the Chinchao. It is here
some sixty yards wide, and the Chinchao thirty, both much obstructed with
shoals and banks of gravel. The peons waded the Huallaga above the
junction, and brought up a canoe from the hacienda of Chinchayvitoc, a few

hundred yards below, and on the opposite side. We passed in the canoe,
which the Indians managed very well. It was a great treat, after the tedious
walk we had had, to feel the free, rapid motion of the boat as it glided down
the stream. The stream seemed to run at the rate of five or six miles the
hour; but, by keeping close in shore, two Indians could paddle the light
canoe against it very well.
Chinchayvitoc is a hacienda established by a Bolivian gentleman
named Villamil, for the collection of Peruvian bark. He brought some
Bolivians with him to search for the bark; but it is not to be found in this
country of good quality, and the scheme seems a failure. There is a
mayordomo and a family of Indians living at the hacienda, but nothing is
doing. Our peons cooked our dinner of cheese and rice, and made us a good
cup of coffee. These are lively, good-tempered fellows, and, properly
treated, make good and serviceable travelling companions. Let them but be
faithfully paid, a kind word now and then spoken to them, and their cargoes
rather under than over the regular weight, (eighty-seven and a half pounds,)
and they will serve faithfully and honestly, and go singing and chattering
through the woods like so many monkeys. Above all, let them stop when
they wish, and don't attempt to hurry them.
We had Mr. Nation in company. He had collected some valuable plants,
and showed me one which he said was a present for an Emperor, and that its
very name would make my journal famous. I of course did not ask it of
him; but was very glad to be able to repay to him, in some slight measure,
the many kindnesses I have received from his countrymen, by giving him a
part of my bed-clothes, and making him comfortable for the night, which he
seemed to be much in need of, for he was wet and sick; and to sleep on the
ground in that condition must be very dangerous. There is much moisture in
the atmosphere; and I find it almost impossible to keep the guns in
serviceable order.
We met at this place some Indians carrying tobacco from Tocache and
Saposoa (towns of the Huallaga) to Huanuco. Enterprising men have
frequently tried to establish a trade along this river, carrying down cotton
goods, knives, hatchets, beads, &c., and getting return-cargoes of tobacco,
rice, straw hats, rare birds, and animals; but the difficulties of the route
seem to have baffled enterprise. About two and a half years ago Vicente

Cevallos made a large venture. He carried down thirty-five trunks or
packages of goods, and the people of the river still talk of his articles of
luxury; but in passing one of the malos pasos, or rapids of the river, his boat
capsized, and he lost everything.
The Indians here had blue limestone, which they were burning to mix
with their coca.
July 31.—I bathed in the river before starting. This is wrong in so
humid an atmosphere. I became chilled, and did not get over it for some
hours. A native traveller in these parts will not even wash his face and hands
before the sun is well up. Soon after starting we crossed a small stream, and
ascended a hill that overlooks the falls of Cayumba, beyond which canoes
cannot ascend. I did not see the falls, but am told that there is no cascade of
height, but rather a considerably inclined plain, much obstructed by drift.
Smyth says: "From hence," (the cave of Cayumba, below the falls,) "we had
a very picturesque view of both the Huallaga and Cayumba—the former
rushing between two high perpendicular rocks, and the latter rolling down a
steep ravine. They unite with great violence at a point where there is a small
island covered with trees, and roll past the cave in an impetuous torrent."
The ascent of the hill was very tedious, and I should complain of the
fatigue but for shame's sake; for there were Indians along, young and rather
small men, who were carrying a burden of nearly one hundred pounds on
their back. Their manner of carrying cargoes is to have a sort of cotton
satchel, of open work, with a broad stout strap to it. The end of the trunk or
package, which is placed on end, is put into the bag, and the Indian, sitting
down with his back to it, passes the strap over his forehead, and then, with a
lift from another, rises to his feet, and, bending forward, brings the weight
upon the muscles of his neck and back. A bit of blanket, or old cotton cloth,
protects the skin of the back from chafe. The traveller in these parts should
be as lightly clad and carry as little weight as possible, for the path is very
steep and muddy. I had been thoughtless enough to wear my heavy Sierra
clothes, and to load myself with a gun of a greater weight, I believe, than a
standard musket—and so had occasion to envy Ijurra his light rig of
nankeen trousers and cotton shirt, long but light staff, and twilled cotton
"Jeffersons."

The descent of this hill, which is nearly as tedious as the ascent,
brought us to the banks of the river opposite the mal-paso of Palma. This is
the first rapid I have seen, and it looked formidable enough. The river,
obstructed in its rapid course, breaks into waves, which dash with
thundering violence against the rocks, and rush between them in sluices of
dazzling velocity. Cargoes must always be landed at this place, and carried
around. The canoe, thus lightened, under skilful and practical management,
may shoot the rapid; but this should not be attempted where it can be
avoided. By prudence, these malos pasos (the dread of travellers) are
stripped of all danger; but the Indians sometimes get drunk and insist upon
the attempt; and thus these places have become the graves of many. Since
my return home I have a letter from Castillo, the young man I met in
Huanuco, enclosing others which were sent to him at Tarapota from Lima to
be forwarded to me. He begged me to excuse the condition in which I
should receive these letters, for they had been shipwrecked in their transit.
"Three persons," said he, "were drowned, but the letters fortunately
escaped."
Nearly all the malos pasos are at the mouth of a tributary. These, in the
floods, bring down quantities of drift, with heavy boulders, which, thrown
crosswise into the stream, lodge and form the obstructions. Little labor
would be required to clear away the rocks, and make the river passable for
canoes at least, if not for light-draught steamboats.
The trees of the forest are large, tall, and without branches for a great
distance up. Ijurra pointed out one to me, of smooth bark, about four feet
diameter near the ground, and which ran up sixty or seventy feet without a
branch. He said that it was so hard that it resisted all attacks of the axe; and,
to get it down, it was necessary to remove the earth and set fire to the roots;
and that, suffered to lie in the water for a long time, it turned to stone of so
hard a character, that, like flint, it would strike fire from steel.
Unfortunately for the accuracy of the statement, we next day saw gigantic
trees of this species that had been felled with an axe. The wood is, however,
very hard and heavy—too much so for any practical use here. The tree is
called capirona. It has a smooth bark, which it is continually changing. The
old bark is a very pretty light-red; the new, a pea-green.

At half-past 4 p. m., we arrived at the Cave, a place where a huge rock,
projecting from the hill-side, made a shelter which would cover and protect
from dew or rain about a dozen persons. The Indian who carried my bag of
bedding wished to make my bed there; but I decided that it was too damp,
and made him spread it out on the shingle by the river brink. The largest
part of the cargo had not arrived, and I feared that we were without drink or
cigars, which would have been a great deprivation to us after the fatigue of
the day. The rice and cheese were on hand; and, to our great delight, Ijurra
found in his saddle-bags a bottle of sherry-brandy that Mr. Jump had
insisted upon our taking from Cerro Pasco, and which I had forgotten. A tin-
pan of hot boiled rice flavored with cheese, a teacup of the brandy, and half
a dozen paper cigars, made us very comfortable; and, lulled by the rustling
of the leaves and the roar of the river, we slept in spite of the ants and other
insects that left the mark of their bites upon our carcasses. I saw here, for
the first time, the luciernago, or fire-fly of this country. It is, unlike ours, a
species of beetle, carrying two white lights in its eyes, (or, rather, in the
places where the eyes of insects generally are,) and a red light between the
scales of the belly—so that it reminded me something of the ocean
steamers. It has the power of softening the light of the eyes until it becomes
very faint; but upon irritating it, by passing the finger over the eyes, the
light becomes very bright and sparkling. They are sometimes carried to
Lima, (enclosed in an apartment cut into a sugar-cane,) where the ladies, at
balls or theatres, put them in their hair for ornament.
August 1.—We started, without breakfast, at a quarter to seven,
thinking that we were near Tingo Maria. But it was ten miles distant, and I
was weary enough ere we arrived. My principal source of annoyance was
the having inadvertedly asked how far we were off from our destination. I
would advise no traveller to do this; he is sure to be disappointed; and when
he is told (as he will certainly be) that he is near, the miles appear doubly
long. The Indians take no account of time or distance. They stop when they
get tired, and arrive when God pleases. They live on plantains—roasted,
boiled, and fried; and in the way of food, a yucca is their greatest good.
Talking with a young Indian, who had a light load, and kept up with me
very well, I was struck with the comparative value of things. A Londoner,
who has been absent for some time from his favorite city, and subjected to
some privations on that account, could not have spoken of the elegances

and comforts of London with more enthusiasm than my companion spoke
of Pueblo Viejo, a settlement of half a dozen Indians, which we were
approaching. "There are plantains," said he; "there are yuccas; there is
everything"—(Hay platanos, hay yuccas, hay todo)—and I really expected
to be surprised and pleased when I arrived at Pueblo Viejo. The town, in
fact, consisted of a single hut, with a plantain grove, a small patch of
yuccas, and another of sugar-cane. In several places near by, people were
felling the trees and forming chacras. The road lay sometimes across and
sometimes along these huge trees; and I envied the bare feet and firm step
of my companion, feeling that my tired legs and muddy boots might, at any
moment, play me a slippery trick, and cost me a broken leg or sprained
ankle.
At eleven we arrived at Juana del Rio, a settlement of five or six
houses, on the right bank of the river, named after the lady of Señor
Martins, whom we met at Cocheros. The houses were all shut up, and
nobody seemed to be at home. Here we crossed the river, (one hundred
yards broad, smooth, and deep,) and walked down the left bank about half a
mile to the pueblo of San Antonio del Tingo Maria. Tingo is the Indian term
for the junction of two rivers, the Monzon emptying into the Huallaga just
above this. The governor, an intelligent and modest young man, a former
friend of Ijurra, welcomed us cordially and gave us a capital breakfast of
chicken broth.

CHAPTER VII.
Itinerary—Tingo Maria—Vampires—Blow-guns—Canoe navigation—
Shooting monkeys—Tocache—Sion—Salt hills of Pilluana.
The following table gives the distance between Lima and the head of
canoe navigation on the Huallaga river:

From Lima to Chaclacayo 18 miles
" " to Santa Ana 10 "
" " to Surco 18 "
" " to San Mateo 18 "
" " to Acchahuarcu 13 "
" " to Morococha 12 "
" " to Oroya 17 "
" " to Tarma 16 "
" " to Palcamayo 15 "
" " to Junin 18 "
" " to Carhuamayo 15 "
" " to Cerro Pasco 20 "
" " to Caxamarquilla 15 "
" " to San Rafael 15 "
" " to Ambo 20 "
" " to Huanuco 15 "
" " to Acomayo 14 "
" " to Chinchao 16 "
" " to Chihuangala 20 "

" " to La Cueva 20 "
" " to Tingo Maria 10 "
335 "

This distance of three hundred and thirty-five miles may be shortened
twenty-eight by going direct from Lima to Cerro Pasco. (We passed round
by Tarma.) The traveller will find that the distance is divided in the table
into days' journeys nearly. Thus it will cost him, with loaded mules, twenty-
one days to reach the head of canoe navigation on the Huallaga by this
route, and nineteen by the other. The last thirty miles between Chihuangala
and Tingo Maria are travelled on foot, though there would be no difficulty
in opening a mule-road.
Any number of mules may be had in Lima at a hire of about seventy-
five cents a day. I paid more; but this was to be expected, for I bargained
with the muleteers that they were to stop where I pleased, and as long as I
pleased. The feed of a mule will average twelve and a half cents per day.
The load is two hundred and sixty pounds.
It would be difficult to persuade a muleteer to take a traveller all the
distance. They do not like to leave their own beat, and the traveller has to
change his mules, on an average, every hundred miles.
The passage of the Cordillera at the season of the year when we crossed
is neither very tedious nor laborious. In fact, we enjoyed much the
magnificent scenery; we were pleased with the manners and habits of a
primitive people; and we met hospitality and kindness everywhere. In the
season of the rains, however, the passage must be both difficult and
dangerous.
August 2.—Tingo Maria is a prettily-situated village, of forty-eight able
bodied men, and an entire population of one hundred and eighty-eight. This
includes those who are settled at Juana del Rio and the houses within a mile
or two.
The pueblo is situated in a plain on the left bank of the river, which is
about six miles in length, and three miles in its broadest part, where the
mountains back of it recede in a semi-circle from the river. The height
above the level of the sea is two thousand two hundred and sixty feet. The

productions of the plain are sugar-cane, rice, cotton, tobacco, indigo, maize,
sweet potatoes, yuccas, sachapapa, or potato of the woods, (the large,
mealy, purple-streaked tuberous root of a vine, in taste like a yam, and very
good food.) The woods are stocked with game—such as pumas, or
American tigers; deer; peccary, or wild hog; ronsoco, or river hog;
monkeys, &c. For birds—are several varieties of "curassow," a large bird,
something like a turkey, but with, generally, a red bill, a crest, and shining
blue-black plumage; a delicate "pava del monte" or wild turkey; a great
variety of parrots; with large, black, wild ducks, and cormorants. There are
also rattlesnakes and vipers. But even with all these, I would advise no
traveller to trust to his gun for support. The woods are so thick and tangled
with undergrowth that no one but an Indian can penetrate them, and no eyes
but those of an Indian could see the game. Even he only hunts from
necessity, and will rarely venture into the thick forest alone, for fear of the
tiger or the viper. There are also good and delicate fish in the river, but in no
great abundance.
The inhabitants are of a tribe called Cholones, which was once large
and powerful. I like their character better than that of any Indians whom I
afterwards met with. They are good tempered, cheerful, and sober, and by
far the largest and finest-looking of the aborigines that I have encountered.
They are obedient to the church and attentive to her ceremonies; and are
more advanced than common in civilization, using no paint as an ornament,
but only staining their arms and legs with the juice of a fruit called huitoc,
that gives a dark, blue dye, as a protection against the sand-flies, which are
abundant, and a great nuisance. The place is generally very healthy. The
common diseases are lymphatic swellings of the body and limbs, (supposed
to be caused by exposure to the great humidity of the atmosphere while
fishing at night,) and sarna, (a cutaneous affection, which covers the body
with sores, making the patient a loathsome object.) These sores dry up and
come off in scabs, leaving blotches on the skin, so that an Indian is
frequently seen quite mottled. I imagine it is caused by want of cleanliness,
and the bites of the sand-flies. They take, as a remedy, the dried root of a
small tree called sárnango, grated and mixed with water. It is said to have a
powerfully-intoxicating and stupefying effect, and to cause the skin to peel
off.

The huitoc is a nut-like fruit, about the size of a common black walnut
with its outer covering. It is, when ripe, soft, of a russet color outside, and
filled with a dark purple pulp and small seeds. The tree is slender, and some
fifteen or twenty feet high, shooting out broad leaves, with the fruit growing
at their base and underneath, like the bread fruit. There is also here a small
tree called añil, or indigo, with a leaf narrow at its base and broad near the
extremity, which yields as deep a dye as the plant. There are also gay and
fragrant flowers in the gardens of the Indians.
Ijurra shot a large bat, of the vampire species, measuring about two feet
across the extended wings. This is a very disgusting-looking animal, though
its fur is very delicate, and of a glossy, rich maroon color. Its mouth is
amply provided with teeth, looking like that of a miniature tiger. It has two
long and sharp tusks in the front part of each jaw, with two smaller teeth,
like those of a hare or sheep, between the tusks of the upper jaw, and four
(much smaller) between those of the lower. There are also teeth back of the
tusks, extending far back into the mouth. The nostrils seem fitted as a
suction apparatus. Above them is a triangular, cartilaginous snout, nearly
half an inch long, and a quarter broad at the base; and below them is a semi-
circular flap, of nearly the same breadth, but not so long. I suppose these
might be placed over the puncture made by the teeth, and the air underneath
exhausted by the nostrils, thus making them a very perfect cupping-glass. I
never heard it doubted, until my return home, that these animals were
blood-suckers; but the distinguished naturalist, Mr. T. R. Peale, tells me that
no one has ever seen them engaged in the operation, and that he has made
repeated attempts for that purpose, but without success. On one occasion,
when a companion had lost a good deal of blood, the doors and windows of
the house in which his party was lying were closed, and a number of these
bats, that were clinging to the roof, killed; but none of them were found
gorged, or with any signs of having been engaged in blood-sucking. I also
observed no apparatus proper for making a delicate puncture. The tusks are
quite as large as those of a rat, and, if used in the ordinary manner, would
make four wounds at once, producing, I should think, quite sufficient pain
to awaken the most profound sleeper. Never having heard this doubt, it did
not occur to me to ask the Indians if they had ever seen the bat sucking, or
to examine the wounds of the horses that I had seen bleeding from this
supposed cause. On one occasion I found my blanket spotted with blood,

and supposed that the bat (having gorged himself on the horses outside) had
flown into the house, and, fastening himself to the thatch over me, had
disgorged upon my covering and then flown out. There was no great
quantity of blood, there being but five or six stains on the blanket, such as
would have been made by large drops. I presumed, likewise, from the fact
of the drops being scattered irregularly over a small surface, that the bat had
been hanging by his feet to the thatch, and swinging about. The discovery
of the drops produced a sensation of deep disgust; and I have frequently
been unable to sleep for fear of the filthy beast. Every traveller in these
countries should learn to sleep with body and head enveloped in a blanket,
as the Indians do.
I saw here, for the first time, the blow-gun of the Indians, called, by the
Spaniards, cerbatana; by the Portuguese of the river, gravatana, (a
corruption, I imagine, of the former, as I find no such Portuguese word;)
and by the Indians, pucuna. It is made of any long, straight piece of wood,
generally of a species of palm called chonta—a heavy, elastic wood, of
which bows, clubs, and spears are also made. The pole or staff, about eight
feet in length, and two inches diameter near the mouth end, (tapering down
to half an inch at the extremity,) is divided longitudinally; a canal is
hollowed out along the centre of each part, which is well smoothed and
polished by rubbing with fine sand and wood. The two parts are then
brought together; nicely woolded with twine; and the whole covered with
wax, mixed with some resin of the forest, to make it hard. A couple of
boar's teeth are fitted on each side of the mouth end, and one of the curved
front teeth of a small animal resembling a cross between a squirrel and a
hare, is placed on top for a sight. The arrow is made of any light wood,
generally the wild cane, or the middle fibre of a species of palm-leaf, which
is about a foot in length, and of the thickness of an ordinary lucifer match.
The end of the arrow, which is placed next to the mouth, is wrapped with a
light, delicate sort of wild cotton, which grows in a pod upon a large tree,
and is called huimba; and the other end, very sharply pointed, is dipped in a
vegetable poison prepared from the juice of the creeper, called bejuco de
ambihuasca, mixed with aji, or strong red pepper, barbasco, sarnango, and
whatever substances the Indians know to be deleterious. The marksman,
when using his pucuna, instead of stretching out the left hand along the
body of the tube, places it to his mouth by grasping it, with both hands

together, close to the mouth-piece, in such a manner that it requires
considerable strength in the arms to hold it out at all, much less steadily. If a
practised marksman, he will kill a small bird at thirty or forty paces. In an
experiment that I saw, the Indian held the pucuna horizontally, and the
arrow blown from it stuck in the ground at thirty-eight paces. Commonly
the Indian has quite an affection for his gun, and many superstitious notions
about it. I could not persuade one to shoot a very pretty black and yellow
bird for me because it was a carrion bird; and the Indian said that it would
deteriorate and make useless all the poison in his gourd. Neither will he
discharge his pucuna at a snake, for fear of the gun being made crooked like
the reptile; and a fowling-piece or rifle that has once been discharged at an
alligator is considered entirely worthless. A round gourd, with a hole in it
for the huimba, and a joint of the caña brava as a quiver, completes the
hunting apparatus.
August 3.—Went to church. The congregation—men, women, and
children—numbered about fifty; the service was conducted by the governor,
assisted by the alcalde. A little naked, bow legged Indian child, of two or
three years, and Ijurra's pointer puppy, which he had brought all the way
from Lima on his saddle-bow, worried the congregation with their tricks
and gambols; but altogether they were attentive to their prayers, and devout.
I enjoyed exceedingly the public worship of God with these rude children
of the forest; and, although they probably understood little of what they
were about, I thought I could see its humanizing and fraternizing effect
upon all.
At night we had a ball at the governor's house. The alcalde, who was a
trump, produced his fiddle; another had a rude sort of guitar, or banjo; and
under the excitement of his music, and the aguadiente of the governor, who
had had his cane ground in anticipation of our arrival, we danced till eleven
o'clock. The custom of the dance requires that a gentleman should choose a
lady and dance with her, in the middle of the floor, till she gives over, (the
company around clapping their hands in time to the music, and cheering the
dancers with vivas at any particular display of agility or spirit in the dance.)
He then presents his partner with a glass of grog, leads her to a seat, and
chooses another. When he tires there is a general drink, and the lady has the
choice. The Señor Commandante was in considerable request; and a fat old
lady, who would not dance with anybody else, nearly killed me. The

governor discharged our guns several times, and let off some rockets that
we had brought from Huanuco; and doubt if Tingo Maria had ever
witnessed such a brilliant affair before.
August 4.—I waked up with pain in the legs and headache from
dancing, and found our men and canoes ready for embarkation. After
breakfast the governor and his wife, (though I greviously fear that there had
been no intervention of the priest in the matter of the union,) together with
several of our partners of the previous night, accompanied us to the port.
After loading the canoes the governor made a short address to the canoe-
men, telling them that we "were no common persons; that they were to have
a special care of us: to be very obedient, &c., and that he would put up daily
prayers for their safe return;" whereupon, after a glass all round, from a
bottle brought down specially by our hostess, and a hearty embrace of the
governor, his lady, and my fat friend of the night before, we embarked and
shoved off; the boatmen blowing their horns as we drifted rapidly down
with the current of the river, and the party on shore waving their hats and
shouting their adieus.
We had two canoes; the largest about forty feet long, by two and a half
broad; hollowed out from a single log, and manned each by five men and a
boy. They are conducted by a puntero, or bowman, who looks out for rocks
or sunken trees ahead; a popero, or steersman, who stands on a little
platform at the stern of the boat and guides her motions; and the bogas or
rowers, who stand up to paddle, having one foot in the bottom of the boat
and the other on the gunwale. When the river was smooth and free from
obstructions, we drifted with the current; the men sitting on the trunks and
boxes, chatting and laughing with each other; but, as we approached a mal-
paso, their serious looks, and the firm position in which each one planted
himself at his post, showed that work was to be done. I felt a little nervous
at first; but when we had fairly entered the pass, the rapid gesture of the
puntero, indicating the channel; the elegant and graceful position of the
popero, giving the boat a broad sheer with the sweep of his long paddle; the
desperate exertions of the bogas; the railroad rush of the canoe; and the
wild, triumphant, screaming laugh of the Indians, as we shot past the
danger, made a scene that was much too exciting to admit of any other
emotion than that of admiration.

We passed many of these to-day, and were well soaked by the canoes
taking in water on each side; some of them were mere smooth declivities—
inclined planes of gravel, with only three or four inches of water on them,
so that the men had to get overboard, keep the canoes head on and drag
them down. The average velocity of the river here is three and a half miles
to the hour; but when it dashes down one of these declivities, it must be
much more. The breadth of the river is a constantly varying quantity,
probably never over one hundred and fifty yards, and never under thirty;
banks low, and covered with trees, bushes, and wild cane. There were hills
on each side, some distance from the bank, but now and then coming down
to it. It is almost impossible to estimate the distance travelled with any
degree of accuracy. The force of the current is very variable, and the Indians
very irregular in their manner of rowing—sometimes paddling half an hour
with great vigor, and then suffering the boat to drift with the tide. Averaging
the current at three and a half miles the hour, and the rowing at one and a
half, with nine hours of actual travel, we have forty-five miles for a day's
journey at this season. I have estimated the number of travelling hours at
nine, for we get off generally at 5 a. m., and stop at 5 p. m. We spend two
hours for breakfast, in the middle of the day, and another hour is lost at the
shallows of the river, or stopping to get a shot at an animal or bird.
At half-past five we camped on the beach. The first business of the
boatmen when the canoe is secured, is to go off to the woods and cut stakes
and palm branches to make a house for the patron. By sticking long poles in
the sand, chopping them half in two, about five feet above the ground, and
bending the upper parts together, they make, in a few minutes, the frame of
a little shanty, which, thickly thatched with palm leaves, will keep off the
dew or an ordinary rain. Some bring the drift-wood that is lying about the
beach and make a fire; the provisions are cooked and eaten; the bedding
laid down upon the leaves that cover the floor of the shanty; the mosquito
nettings spread; and, after a cup of coffee, a glass of grog, and a cigar, (if
they are to be had,) everybody retires for the night by eight o'clock. The
Indians sleep around the hut, each under his narrow cotton mosquito
curtain, which glisten in the moon-light like so many tomb-stones. This was
pleasant enough when provisions were plenty and the weather good; but
when there was no coffee or brandy, the cigars had given out, and there was
a slim allowance of only salt fish and plantains, with one of those nights of

heavy rain that are frequent upon the Marañon, I could not help calling to
mind, with some bitterness of spirit, the comforts of the ship-of-war that I
had left, to say nothing of the luxuries of home.
August 6.—Started at eight. River seventy yards broad, nine feet deep,
pebbly bottom; current three miles per hour. We find in some places, where
hills come down to the river, as much as thirty feet of depth. There are some
quite high hills on the right-hand side, that might be called mountains; they
run north and south. I was surprised that we saw no animals all day, but
only river birds—such as black ducks, cormorants, and king-fishers; also
many parrots of various kinds and brilliant plumage, but they always kept
out of shot. We camped at half-past five, tired and low-spirited, having had
nothing to eat all day but a little rice boiled with cheese early in the
morning. My wrists were sore and painful from sun-burn, and the sand-flies
were very troublesome. Heavy clouds, with thunder and lightning, in the N.
W. In the night, fresh breeze from that quarter. We heard tigers and
monkeys during the night, and saw the tiger-tracks near the camp next
morning.
August 6.—Soon after starting we saw a fine doe coming down towards
the river. We steered in, and got within about eighty yards of her, when
Ijurra and I fired together, the guns loaded with a couple of rifle-balls each.
The animal stood quite still for a few minutes, and then walked slowly off
towards the bushes. I gave my gun, loaded with three rifle-balls, to the
puntero, who got a close shot, but without effect. One of the balls, a little
flattened, was picked up close to where the deer stood. These circumstances
made the Indians doubt if she were a deer; and I judge, from their gestures
and exclamations, that they thought it was some evil spirit that was ball-
proof. I imagine that the ball was flattened either by passing through the
branch of a brush or striking some particularly hard bone of the animal, or it
might have been jammed in the gun by the other balls.
These Indians have very keen senses, and see and hear things that are
inaudible and invisible to us. Our canoe-men this morning commenced
paddling with great vigor. I asked the cause, and they said that they heard
monkeys ahead. I think we must have paddled a mile before I heard the
sound they spoke of. When we came up to them, we found a gang of large
red monkeys in some tall trees on the river-side, making a noise like the

grunting of a herd of enraged hogs. We landed, and in a few minutes I found
myself beating my way through the thick undergrowth, and hunting
monkeys with as much excitement as I had ever hunted squirrels when a
boy. I had no balls with me, and my No. 3 shot only served to sting them
from their elevated position in the tops of the trees, and bring them within
reach of the pucunas of the Indians. They got two and I one, after firing
about a dozen shots into him. I never saw animals so tenacious of life; this
one was, as the Indians expressed it, bathed in shot, (bañado en municion.)
These monkeys were about the size of a common terrier-dog, and were clad
with a long, soft, maroon-colored hair; they are called cotomonos, from a
large goitre (coto) under the jaw. This is an apparatus of thin bone in the
wind-pipe, by means of which they make their peculiar noise. The male,
called curaca, (which is also the appellation of the chief of a tribe of
Indians,) has a long red beard. They are called guariba in Brazil, where they
are said to be black as well as red; and I believe they are of the species
commonly called howling monkeys.
It is scarcely worth while to say that the Indians use parts of this animal
for the cure of diseases, for I know no substance that could possibly be used
as a remedial agent that they do not use for that purpose. The mother carries
the young upon her back until it is able to go alone. If the dam dies, the sire
takes charge. There are vast numbers in all the course of the river, and no
day passes to the traveller that they are not heard or seen.
When I arrived at the beach with my game, I found that the Indians had
made a fire and were roasting theirs. They did not take the trouble to skin
and clean the animal, but simply put him in the fire, and, when well
scorched, took him off and cut pieces from the fleshy parts with a knife; if
these were not sufficiently well done, they roasted them farther on little
stakes stuck up before the fire. I tried to eat a piece, but it was so tough that
my teeth would make no impression upon it. The one I killed was enciente;
the fœtus about double the size of a wharf-rat. I wished to preserve it, but it
was too large for any bottles I had; whereupon the Indians roasted and ate it
without ceremony.
We also saw to-day several river hogs, and had an animated chase after
one, which we encountered on the river-side, immediately opposite a nearly
precipitous bank of loose earth, which crumbled under his feet so that he

could not climb it. He hesitated to take the water in face of the canoes, so
that we thought we had him; but after a little play up and down the river-
side, he broke his way through the line of his adversaries, capsizing two
Indians as he went, and took to the water. This animal is amphibious, about
the size of a half-grown hog, and reminded me, in his appearance and
movements, of the rhinoceros. He is also red, and I thought it remarkable
that the only animals we had seen—the deer, the monkeys, and the hog—
should be all of this color. It is called ronsoco here, and capiuara in Brazil.
In these Brazilian names I follow the spelling of Baeña.
We also heard the barking of dogs on the right or Infidel side of the
river, in contradistinction to the other, which is called La parte de la
cristiandad, supposed to be the dogs of the Cashibos Indians of the
Pachitea.
Parrots and other birds were also more numerous than before.
We found the river to-day much choked with islands, shoals, and
grounded drift-wood; camped at half-past five, and supped upon monkey
soup. The monkey, as it regards toughness, was monkey still; but the liver,
of which I ate nearly the whole, was tender and good. Jocko, however, had
his revenge, for I nearly perished of nightmare. Some devil, with arms as
nervous as the monkey's, had me by the throat, and, staring on me with his
cold, cruel eye, expressed his determination to hold on to the death. I
thought it hard to die by the grasp of this fiend on the banks of the strange
river, and so early in my course; and upon making a desperate effort, and
shaking him off, I found that I had forgotten to take off my cravat, which
was choking me within an inch of my life.
August 7.—We got off at half-past eight; at a quarter to ten passed the
port of Uchiza. This is a village nine miles from the river. The port itself,
like that of Tingo Maria, is a shed for the accommodation of canoes and
passengers. Nearly all the towns on the river are built six or eight miles
from the banks, on account of the overflow of the country when the river is
full. Some hill on the bank is generally selected as the port, and a road is
made thence to the town. This hill is sometimes forty feet out of water, and
sometimes covered, and the whole land between it and the town
overflowed. At a quarter past ten we passed the Quebrada, or ravine of

Huinagua, on the right. A small stream comes down this ravine, the water
of which is salt. The people of Uchiza ascend it—a day's journey—to a salt
hill, where they supply themselves with this indispensable article. At twenty
minutes past eleven we passed another; and at 1 p. m. another, where the
people of Tocache get their salt. It is a day's journey from Tocache to the
mouth of the Quebrada, and another to the salt hills.
To-day presented a remarkable contrast to yesterday for sportsmen. We
did not see a single animal, and very few birds; even parrots, generally so
plentiful, were scarce to-day. It was a day of work; the men paddled well,
and we must have made seventy miles. On approaching Tocache, which
was their last stage with us, the Indians almost deafened me with the noise
of their horns. These horns are generally made of pieces of wood hollowed
out thin, joined together, wrapped with twine, and coated with wax. They
are shaped like a blunderbuss, and are about four feet long; the mouth-piece
is of reed, and the sound deep and mellow. The Indians always make a great
noise on approaching any place, to indicate that they come as friends. They
fancy that they might otherwise be attacked, as hostile parties always move
silently.
We arrived at five. I was wearied with the monotonous day's journey
and the heat of the sun, and anticipated the arrival with pleasure, thinking
that we were going to stop at a large village and get something good to eat;
but I was grievously disappointed. We arrived only at the port, which was,
as usual, a shed on a hill; the village being nine miles off. There was
nothing to eat here: so we determined to start inland and see what we could
pick up. A rapid walk of an hour and a quarter brought us to Lamasillo,
which I had been told was a pueblo of whites, but which we found to be but
a single house with a "platanal" attached to it. There were other houses near,
but none within sight. I had been under the impression that "pueblo" meant
a village, but I think now it signifies any settled country, though the houses
may be miles apart. With much persuasion we induced the people of the
house to sell us a couple of bottles of aguadiente and a pair of chickens. The
governor of the district had been at this place within the hour, but was gone
to Tocache, which we understood to be two coceadas further on, or about
the same distance that we had come over from the port to this place.
Distance is frequently estimated by the time that a man will occupy in
taking a chew of coca. From the distance between the port and Lamasillo, it

appears that a chew of coca is about three-fourths of a league, or thirty-
seven and a half minutes.
We walked back by moonlight, and had a fowl cooked forthwith;
which, as we had had nothing but a little monkey soup early in the morning,
we devoured more like tigers than Christian men. We found at the port
several travelling merchants from Moyobamba. One party had been to
Huanuco by land, with a cargo of straw hats and tobacco, which they sold at
about fifty per cent. advance on prime cost. This is a miserable traffic, for
the round trip occupies four months, and is one of great hardship. The other
party were going by the river in canoes to Huanuco, with the same cargo,
and in addition some rice and rare birds. Travellers go up by the river when
it is low, and by land when the river is high. The returning party were going
down on balsas, which they had constructed at Tingo Maria. These balsas
are logs of a light kind of wood, called balsa wood, placed side by side, half
a foot apart, and secured by other pieces lashed athwart them. A platform
raised on small logs is elevated amidships for the cargo to rest on; and the
rowers, standing upon the lower logs, have their feet in the water all the
time. After getting clear of all the rapids of a river, they of course may be
built of any size, and comfortable houses erected on them. I should have
preferred coming down the Amazon in that way, but that I contemplated
ascending other rivers.
We made our beds in the canoes under the shed, and, tired as we were,
slept comfortably enough. It seems a merciful dispensation of Providence
that the sand-flies go to bed at the same time with the people; otherwise I
think one could not live in this country. We have not yet been troubled with
musquitoes. The sand-flies are here called "mosquitos," the diminutive of
mosca, a fly; our musquitoes are called sancudos. The sand-flies are very
troublesome in the day, and one cannot write or eat in any comfort.
Everybody's hands in this country are nearly black from the effects of their
bite, which leaves a little round black spot, that lasts for weeks. It is much
better to bear the sting than to irritate the part by scratching or rubbing.
August 8.—I sent Ijurra to Tocache to communicate with the governor,
while I spent the day in writing up my journal, and drying the equipage that
had been wetted in the journey. In the afternoon I walked into the woods
with an Indian, for the purpose of seeing him kill a bird or animal with his

pucuna. I admired the stealthy and noiseless manner with which he moved
through the woods, occasionally casting a wondering and reproachful
glance at me as I would catch my foot in a creeper and pitch into the bushes
with sufficient noise to alarm all the game within a mile round. At last he
pointed out to me a toucan, called by the Spaniards predicador, or preacher,
sitting on a branch of a tree out of the reach of his gun. I fired and brought
him down with a broken wing. The Indian started into the bushes after him;
but, finding him running, he came back to me for his pucuna, which he had
left behind. In a few minutes he brought the bird to me with an arrow
sticking in his throat. The bird was dead in two minutes after I saw it, and
probably in two and a half minutes from the time it was struck. The Indian
said that his poison was good, but that it was in a manner ejected by the
flow of blood, which covered the bird's breast, and which showed that a
large blood-vessel of the neck had been pierced. I do not know if his
reasoning were good or not.
Ijurra returned at eight, tired, and in a bad humor. He reported that he
had hunted the governor from place to place all day; had come up with him
at last and obtained the promise that we should have canoes and men to
prosecute our journey. My companion, who has been sub-prefect or
governor of the whole province which we are now in, (Mainas,) and who
has appointed and removed these governors of districts at pleasure, finds it
difficult to sue where he had formerly commanded. He consequently
generally quarrels with those in authority; and I have to put myself to some
trouble, and draw largely upon my "bon homie" to reconcile the differences,
and cool down the heats, which his impatience and irritability often
occasion. He, however, did good service to the cause, by purchasing a hog
and some chickens, which were to appear to-morrow.
August 9.—We had people to work killing and salting our hog. We had
difficulty in getting some one to undertake this office, but the man from
whom we purchased the hog stood our friend, and brought down his family
from Lamasillo to do the needful. We had very little benefit from our
experiment in this way. We paid eight dollars for the hog, twenty-five cents
for salt, twenty-five cents to Don Isidro, who brought him down to the port,
and fifty cents to the same gentleman for butchering him. The wife and
children of the owner took their pay for salting and smoking out of the hog

himself. Our friends going up stream (according to Ijurra) stole half, and
what was left spoiled before we could eat it.
Everybody is a Don in this country. Our Indian boatmen, at least the
Poperos, are Dons; and much ceremonious courtesy is necessary in
intercourse with them. I have to treat the governors of the districts with all
manner of ceremony; when, while he exacts this, and will get sulky, and
afford me no facilities without it, he will entertain the proposition to go
along with me as my servant.
I had a note from the governor, not written but signed by himself,
requesting to know how many men I wanted, and saying that he hoped to
see us in the pueblo early to-morrow. We excused ourselves from going to
the town, and requested him to send the men down to the port for their pay.
This he would not do, but insisted that we should pay at least at Lamasillo.
We always pay in advance, and the boatmen generally leave their cotton
cloth, in which they are nearly always paid, with their wives. These have
preferred their pay partly in money.
August 10.—The party for Huanuco got off this morning, and left the
shed to Ijurra and me. Whilst bathing in the river, I saw an animal
swimming down the stream towards me, which I took to be a fox or cat. I
threw stones at it, and it swam to the other side of the river and took to the
forest. Very soon after, a dog, who was evidently in chase, came swimming
down, and missing the chase from the river, swam round in circles for some
minutes before giving it up. This animal, from my description, was
pronounced to be an ounce, or tiger-cat. It is called tigre throughout all this
country, but is never so large or ferocious as the African tiger. They are
rather spotted like the leopard, than striped like the tiger. They are said,
when hungry, to be sufficiently dangerous, and no one cares to bring them
to bay without good dogs and a good gun.
We talked so much about tigers and their carrying off people whilst
asleep, that I, after going to bed, became nervous; and every sound near the
shed made me grasp the handles of my pistols. After midnight I was lulled
to sleep by the melancholy notes of a bird that Lieutenant Smyth calls
"Alma Perdida," or lost soul. Its wild and wailing cry from the depths of the
forest seemed, indeed, as sad and despairing as that of one without hope.

August 11.—Ijurra went to Lamasillo to pay the boatmen, some of them
having come down to the port to carry up the cotton cloth. This left me
entirely alone. The sense of loneliness, and the perfect stillness of the great
forest, caused me to realize in all its force the truth of Campbell's fine line
—
"The solitude of earth that overawes."

It was strange, when the scratch of my pen on the paper ceased, to hear
absolutely no sound. I felt so much the want of society, that I tried to make
a friend of the lithe, cunning-looking lizard that ran along the canoe at my
side, and that now and then stopped, raised up his head, and looked at me,
seemingly in wonder.
I could see no traces of the height of the river in the crecido, or full;
but, from a mark pointed out by one of the Indians, I judged that the river
has here a perpendicular rise and fall of thirty feet. He represents it at a foot
in depth at high water on the hill upon which we now are, and its borders at
three-fourths of a mile inland. Smyth speaks of the river having fallen ten
feet in a single night.
The hill on which the port of Tocache is situated, is about thirty feet
above the present level of the river, and by boiling point is one thousand
five hundred and seventy-nine feet above the level of the sea.
A canoe arrived from Juan Juy, and a party of two from Saposoa by
land. These are towns further down the river. Each party had its pitakas,
(hide trunks,) containing straw hats, rice, tobacco, and tocuyo listado, a
striped cotton cloth, much used in Huanuco for "tickings." It is astonishing
to see how far this generally lazy people will travel for a dollar.
August 18.—Had a visit from the governor last night. He is a little,
bare-footed Mestizo, dressed in the short frock and trousers of the Indians.
He seemed disposed to do all in his power to facilitate us and forward us on
our journey. I asked him about the tigers. He said he had known three
instances of their having attacked men in the night; two of them were much
injured, and one died.
Our boatmen made their appearance at 10 a. m., accompanied by their
wives, bringing masato for the voyage. The women carry their children

(lashed flat on the back to a frame of reeds) by a strap around the brow, as
they do any other burden. The urchins look comfortable and contented, and
for all the world like young monkeys.
The Indians of this district are Ibitos. They are less civilized than the
Cholones of Tingo Maria, and are the first whose faces I have seen
regularly painted. They seem to have no fixed pattern, but each man paints
according to his fancy; using, however, only two colors—the blue of Huitoc
and the red "Achote."
The population of the district is contained in the villages of Tocache,
Lamasillo, Isonga, and Pisana, and amounts to about five hundred souls.
The road between the port and Tocache is level and smooth; the soil dark,
of a light character, and very rich, though thin. Nothing is sent from this
district for sale, and the inhabitants purchase the cotton for their garments
from the itinerant traders on the river, paying for it with tobacco. I should
judge from the periodical overflow of the lands, the heat of the sun, and the
lightness and richness of the soil, that this would be the finest rice country
in the world.
We started at twelve with two canoes and twelve men; river fifty yards
broad, eighteen feet deep, and with three miles an hour current; a stream
called the Tocache empties into it about half a mile below the port. It forces
its way through five channels, over a bank of stones and sand. It is
doubtless a fine large-looking river when at high water. The country is hilly
on the right and flat on the left-hand side. At 3 p. m. we entered a more hilly
country, and began to encounter again the malos pasos; passed the Rio
Grande de Meshuglla, which comes in on the left in the same manner as the
Tocache, and soon after, the port of Pisana; no houses at the port; saw an
old white man on the beach, who was a cripple, and said he had been
bedridden for nine years. He begged us for needles, or fish-hooks, or
anything we had. We gave him a dollar. He is the first beggar for charity's
sake that I recollected to have seen since leaving Lima. There are beggars
enough, but they ask for presents, or, offering to buy some article, expect
that it shall be given to them.
The river is now entirely broken up by islands and rapids. In passing
one of these, we came very near being capsized. Rounding suddenly the

lower end of an island, we met the full force of the current from the other
side, which, striking us on the beam, nearly rolled the canoe over. The men,
in their fright, threw themselves on the upper gunwale of the boat which
gave us a heel the other way, and we very nearly filled. Had the popero
fallen from his post, (and he tottered fearfully,) we should probably have
been lost; but by great exertions he got the boat's head down stream, and we
shot safely by rocks that threatened destruction.
At six we arrived at the port of Balsayacu. The pueblo, which I found,
as usual, to consist of one house, was a pleasant walk of half a mile from
the port. We slept there, instead of at the beach; and it was well that we did,
for it rained heavily all night. The only inhabitants of the rancho seemed to
be two little girls; but I found in the morning that one of them had an infant,
though she did not appear to be more than twelve or thirteen years of age. I
suppose there are more houses in the neighborhood; but, as I have before
said, a pueblo is merely a settlement, and may extend over leagues. The
sandy point at the port is covered with large boulders, mostly of a dark red
conglomerate, though there were stones of almost every kind brought down
by the stream and deposited there. We travelled to-day about twenty-five
miles; course N. W. by N.; average depth of the reaches of the river sixteen
feet; current three and a half miles to the hour.
August 13.—Last night Ijurra struck with a fire-brand one of the
boatmen, who was drunk, and disposed to be insolent, and blackened and
burned his face. The man—a powerful Indian, of full six feet in height—
bore it like a corrected child in a blubbering and sulky sort of manner. This
morning he has the paint washed off his face, and looks as humble as a dog;
though I observed a few hours afterwards that he was painted up again, and
had resumed the usual gay and good-tempered manner of his tribe.
Between ten and eleven we passed the mal-paso of Mataglla, just
below the mouth of the river of the same name, which comes in on the left,
clear and cool into the Huallaga. The temperature of this stream was 69;
that of the Huallaga 74. Ijurra thought its waters were decidedly salt, though
I could not discover it. This mal-paso is the worst that I have yet
encountered. We dared not attempt it under oar, and the canoe was let down
along the shore, stern foremost, by a rope from its bows, and guided
between the rocks by the popero—sometimes with his paddle, and

sometimes overboard, up to his middle in water. I am told that "balsas" pass
in mid-channel, but I am sure a canoe would be capsized and filled. The
mal-paso is a quarter of a mile long, and an effectual bar, except perhaps at
high water, to navigation for any thing but a canoe or balsa. Just before
reaching Sion we passed the Pan de Azucar, a sugar-loaf island of slate
rock; white when exposed long to the atmosphere; seventy or eighty feet in
height, and covered with small trees. It appears to have been a promontory
torn from the main land and worn into its present shape by the force of the
current.
The river to-day averages one hundred yards in breadth, eighteen feet
of depth, and with four miles of current. Its borders are hilly, and it runs
straighter and more directly to the north than before.
At 1 p. m. we arrived at the port of Sion. This is the port de la madre,
or of the main river. There is another port situated on the Caño or arm of the
main river, nearer the pueblo. The village lies in a S. W. direction, about a
mile from the port. As our Tocache men were to leave us here, we had all
the baggage taken up to the town. The walk is a pleasant one, over a level
road of fine sand, well shaded with large trees. Ijurra, who went up before
me, met the priest of Saposoa (who is on the annual visit to his parish)
going south, and about to embark at the Caño port; and the governor of the
district going north to Pachiza, the capital. This last left orders that we
should be well received; and the lieutenant governor of the pueblo lodged
us in the convento, or priest's house, and appointed us a cook and a servant.
I slept comfortably on the padre's bedstead, enclosed with matting to
keep off the bats. The people appear to make much of the visit of their
priest. I saw in the corner of the sala, or hall of the house, a sort of rude
palanquin, which I understood to have been constructed to carry his
reverence back and forth, between the city and port.
August 14.—We employed the morning in cleaning the arms and drying
the equipage. Had a visit from some ladies, pretty Mestizas, (descendants of
white and Indian,) who examined the contents of our open trunks with
curiosity and delight. They refrained, however, from asking for anything
until they saw some chancaca with which we were about to sweeten our
morning coffee, when they could contain themselves no longer; but

requested a bit. This seems an article of great request, for no sooner had the
news spread that we had it, than the alcalde brought us an egg to exchange
for some; and even the lieutenant governor also expressed his desire for a
little. We refused the dignitaries, though we had given some to the ladies;
for we had but enough for two or three cups more. Their wants, however,
were not confined to sugar. They asked, without scruple, after a while, for
anything they saw; and the lieutenant wanted a little sewing cotton, and
some of the soap we brought to wash ourselves with, to take for physic.
These things we could more easily part with, and I had no objection to give
him some, and also to regale his wife with a pair of pinchbeck earrings.
There is nothing made or cultivated here for sale. They raise a few fowls
and some yuccas and plantains for their own use; and it was well that we
brought our own provisions along, or we might have starved.
I do not wonder at the indifference of the people to attempt to better
their condition. The power of the governor to take them from their labor and
send them on journeys of weeks' duration with any passing merchant or
traveller, would have this effect. At this time they have furnished canoes
and rowers for the priest, and a Señor Santa Maria, bound up the river; and
for the governor and us, bound down; which has taken thirty-eight men out
of a population of ninety. (The whole population of the town and
neighborhood, reckoning women and children, is three hundred.)
The town appears to have been once in a better condition than it is now.
There are remains of a garden attached to the convent, and also of
instruments of husbandry and manufacture—such as rude mortars,
hollowed out from the trunk of a tree, for beating (with pestles) the husk
from rice, and a press for putting into shape the crude wax gathered from
the hollow trees by the Indians, used by the friars "lang syne"—all now
seem going to decay. The people are lazy and indifferent. They cultivate
plantains sufficient to give them to eat, and yuccas enough to make masato
to get drunk on; and this seems all they need. Most of their time is spent in
sleeping, drinking, and dancing. Yesterday they were dancing all day,
having a feast preparatory to going to work to clear ground, and make a
chacra for our "Lady of something," which the priest, in his recent visit, had
commanded; (the produce of this chacra is doubtless for the benefit of the
church or its ministers;) and I have no doubt that the Indians will have
another feast when the job is done.

The dance was a simple affair so far as figure was concerned—the
women whirling round in the centre, and the men (who were also the
musicians) trotting around them in a circle. The music was made by rude
drums, and fifes of reed, and it was quite amusing to see the alcalde, a large,
painted, grave-looking Indian, trotting round like a dog on a tread mill, with
a penny whistle at his mouth. I am told that they will dance in this way as
long as there is drink, if it reach to a month. I myself have heard their music
—the last thing at night as I was going to bed, and the first thing in the
morning as I was getting up—for days at a time. The tune never changes,
and seems to be the same everywhere in the Montaña. It is a monotonous
tapping of the drum, very like our naval beat to quarters.
We embarked at the Caño port, and dropped down the Caño, a mile and
a half to the river. We found the river deep and winding, and running,
generally, between high cliffs of a white rock. The white, however, is
superficial, and seems to be imparted by age and weather. Where the action
of the water had worn the white off, the rock showed dark brown, and in
layers of about two feet thick, the seams running N. N. W. and S. S. E., and
at an angle elevated towards the north of 45°. It is argillaceous schist, which
is the character of most of the rock of this country.
We passed the mal-paso of Shapiama, and, with fifteen minutes'
interval, those of Savolayacu and Cachihuanushca. In the first two the
canoes were let down with ropes, and we shot the last under oar, which I
was surprised at, as I had heard that it was one of the worst on the river.
Malos pasos, however, which are formidable when the river is full, are
comparatively safe when it is low; and vice versa. Smyth passed when the
river was high—I at the opposite season; and for this reason our accounts of
the rapids would vary and appear contradictory.
After passing the last we found the hills lower, the country more open,
and the river wider and with a gentler flow. The average depth to-day in the
smooth parts is thirty feet; current, three miles.
We passed the port of Valle on the left. A small stream enters here. The
town, containing five hundred inhabitants, is six miles from the port.
About sunset we arrived at Challuayacu, a settlement of twenty houses.
All the inhabitants, except those of one house, were absent. We were told

that they had been disobedient in some matter to the governor of the
district, and that he had come upon them with a force and carried them off
prisoners to Juan Juy, a large town further down the river, where authority
might be brought to bear upon them.
The village is situated in a large and fertile plain, which reaches from
near the town of Valle, on the S. W., to Pachisa, on the N.; but this is not yet
settled or cultivated, and, as at Sion, nothing is produced except the bare
necessaries of life. Some attempt, however, had been made at
improvements, for there were two small horses, in tolerable condition,
wandering about among the deserted houses of the village. They eat the
tops of the sugar-cane, the skin of the plantain, or almost any vegetable.
They were brought from somewhere below to turn a trapiche; but
everything seems abandoned now, and, there being no one to take care of
the horses, I fancy the bats will soon bleed them to death.
August 16.—Lovely morning. On stepping out of the house my
attention was attracted by a spider's web covering the whole of a large
lemon-tree nearly. The tree was oval and well shaped; and the web was
thrown over it in the most artistic manner, and with the finest effect. Broad
flat cords were stretched out, like the cords of a tent, from its circumference
to the neighboring bushes; and it looked as if some genius of the lamp, at
the command of its master, had exhausted taste and skill to cover with this
delicate drapery the rich-looking fruit beneath. I think the web would have
measured full ten yards in diameter.
The river opposite Challuayacu is one hundred yards broad, shallow
and rapid. A few miles below, it spreads out to one hundred and fifty yards;
and in what seemed mid-channel, there was but six feet water, with a
bottom of fine sand, and a current of four miles the hour. Hills on the right,
but retiring from the shores; a perfect plain, covered with trees, bushes, and
wild cane, on the left.
At noon we arrived at the mouth of the Huayabamba, which is one
hundred yards wide, has six feet water, and a beautiful pebbly bottom. A
quarter of an hour's drag of the canoe along the right bank brought us to the
village of Lupuna, the port of Pachiza. It contains fifteen houses and about
seventy-five inhabitants. A little rice is grown; but the staple production is

cotton, which seemed to be abundant. This may be called a manufacturing
place; for almost every woman was engaged in spinning, and many balls of
cotton-thread were hanging from the rafters of each house. A woman,
spinning with diligence all day, will make four of these balls. These weigh a
pound, and are worth twenty-five cents. They are very generally used as
currency, there being little money in the country. I saw some English prints,
which were worth thirty-seven and a half cents the yard; (cost in Lima
twelve and a half;) they come either by the way of Huanuco, or across the
country, by Truxillo, Chachapoyas, and Moyobamba; and are paid for in
hats, wax, or these balls of cotton.
We had a visit from the governor of Pachiza, which town is situated on
the right bank of the river, three miles above Lupuna. I asked him why he
had carried away prisoners nearly all the population of Challuayacu. He
merely said that they had been rebellious, and resisted his authority, and
therefore he had taken them to Juan Juy, where they could be secured and
punished. I thought it a pity that a thriving settlement should be broken up,
very probably on account of some personal quarrel.
The district comprises the pueblos of Pachiza, of eighty matrimonios;
Valle, eighty; Huicunga, thirty; Sion, thirty; Archiras, sixteen; Lupuna,
fifteen; Shepti, twelve; Bijao, four; and Challuayacu, three. The number of
souls in a village, proportionate to the number of matrimonios, or married
couples, is generally estimated at five for one. This would give the
population of the district thirteen hundred and fifty. The people are indolent
and careless; and although there could not well be a finer or more
productive country than all this district, yet they barely exist.
After we had retired to our mats beneath the shed for the night, I asked
the governor if he knew a bird called El alma perdida. He did not know it
by that name, and requested a description. I whistled an imitation of its
notes; whereupon, an old crone, stretched on a mat near us, commenced,
with animated tones and gestures, a story in the Inca language, which,
translated, ran somehow thus:
An Indian and his wife went out from the village to work their chacra,
carrying their infant with them. The woman went to the spring to get water,
leaving the man in charge of the child, with many cautions to take good

care of it. When she arrived at the spring she found it dried up, and went
further to look for another. The husband, alarmed at her long absence, left
the child and went in search. When they returned the child was gone; and to
their repeated cries, as they wandered through the woods in search, they
could get no response save the wailing cry of this little bird, heard for the
first time, whose notes their anxious and excited imagination "syllabled"
into pa-pa, ma-ma, (the present Quichua name of the bird.) I suppose the
Spaniards heard this story, and, with that religious poetic turn of thought
which seems peculiar to this people, called the bird "The lost soul."
The circumstances under which the story was told—the beautiful still,
starlight night—the deep, dark forest around—the faint-red glimmering of
the fire, flickering upon the old woman's gray hair and earnest face as she
poured forth the guttural tones of the language of a people now passed away
—gave it a sufficiently romantic interest to an imaginative man. The old
woman was a small romance in herself. I had looked at her with interest as
she cooked our supper. She wore a costume that is sometimes, though not
often, seen in this country. The body, or upper part of the dress, which was
black, consisted of two parts—one coming up from the waist behind and
covering the back, the other in front, covering the breast; the two tied
together over each shoulder with strings, leaving her lank sides and long
skinny arms perfectly bare.
August 17.—We procured a canoe sufficiently large to carry all our
baggage, (we had hitherto had two,) with eight peons. We found hills now
on both sides of the river, which a little below Lupuna has one hundred and
twenty yards of breadth and thirty feet of depth. We passed a small raft,
with a house built of cane and palm upon it, containing an image of the
Virgin, which was bound up the river seeking contributions. The people buy
a step towards Heaven in this way with their little balls of cotton.
We passed abreast of Juan Juy; but, a long island intervening, we did
not see it. It is a large village of five hundred inhabitants; it is situated in a
plain, a great part of which is overflowed by the river at the full; and much
rice is cultivated there. I have met with the rice of Juan Juy everywhere on
the river. Soon after we passed the mouth of the river Sapo, which is fifty
yards broad, and muddy; navigable for large canoes for twenty miles to the

town of Saposoa, which contains one thousand inhabitants, and is the
capital of the comparatively populous district of that name.
The Huallaga, which for some miles above this has but six feet of
water, at this place has eighteen; but it soon diminishes to six again.
We stopped at a collection of three or four huts called Oge, where there
was a trapiche to grind sugar-cane; but the people only made bad rum of it.
We tried to purchase yuccas and plantains; but though they had them, they
did not care to sell. They only plant enough for their own necessities. Great
quantities of yuccas are used to make their masato. Below this we passed a
rancho on the right-hand side, where there was a fine field of maize. This is
the first settlement we have seen on that bank; fear of the savages, (or
Infidels,) as they are called, who dwell on that side, preventing it.
We stopped for the night at Juan Comas, a small village situated on a
bluff of light sandy soil, on the left bank. The hills on the other side are
much more bare than is common, having only a few small trees and
scattering bushes on them. We were quite objects of curiosity, and most of
the people of the village came in to see us; one man, a strapping fellow,
came in, and after a brief but courteous salutation to me, turned to one of
the women, and drove her out of the house with kicks and curses. He
followed her, and I soon after heard the sound of blows and the cries of a
woman; I suppose the fellow was either jealous, or the lady had neglected
some household duty to gratify her curiosity.
August 18.—Just below Juan Comas the river has one hundred yards of
width and forty-two feet of depth. This part of the river is called the "well"
of Juan Comas; it is half a mile in length, and the current runs but one and a
quarter mile the hour. The hills terminate just below this, and we have the
country flat on both sides. We passed some rocky hills on the right-hand
side, in one of which is a cave called "Puma-huasi," or Tiger house. It is
said to be very extensive. Soon after we passed the mouth of the river
Hunanza, a small stream coming in on the Infidel side of the river. Our
popero says that the Infidels dwell near here, and the people of Tarapoto go
a short distance up this river to capture the young Indians and take them
home as slaves. I believe this story; for I found servants of this class in
Tarapoto, who were bought and sold as slaves. Slavery is prohibited by the

laws of Peru; but this system is tolerated on the plea that the Infidel is
christianized and his condition bettered by it.
It is very easy for only a few white men, armed with guns, to rob the
savages of their children; for these rarely live in villages, but in families of
at most three or four huts, and widely separated from each other. They
never assemble except for the purpose of war; and then the sound of a horn,
from settlement to settlement, brings them together. They are also a timid
people, and will not face the white man's gun.
It is possible that the story of the popero is not true, and that the whites
may buy the children of the Indians; but if so, I imagine that the advantages
of the bargain are all on one side.
Below the mouth of the Hunanza we have the same comparatively bare
hills that I noticed opposite Juan Comas. They present ridges of red earth
and dark stone, which curve from the south towards the northeast, and are
elevated in that direction to about 20°. I suspect that they have veins of salt,
particularly as the salt hills of Pilluana are of the same range, and present at
a distance nearly the same appearance.
The hills of Pilluana, which we now soon passed, have their base
immediately upon the river, on the right-hand side. They are about three
hundred feet in height, and stretch along the banks of the river for a quarter
of a mile. The salt shows like frost upon the red earth at a distance; but seen
nearer the heavy rains seem to have washed away the loose earth and left
nearly the pure salt standing in innumerable cone-shaped pinnacles, so that
the broken sides of the hills look like what drawings represent of the crater
of a volcano, or the bottom of a geyser. Where the hills have been
excavated, beautiful stalactites of perfectly pure salt hang from the roof in
many varieties of shapes. There are much higher hills back of these, that
appear also to contain salt; so that there seems a supply here for all people
and for all time.
We passed the mouth of the river Mayo, that comes in on the left
between moderately high hills, and five minutes after arrived at Shapaja,
one of the ports of Tarapoto. The river, just above the junction of the Mayo,
narrows to forty yards, has thirty and thirty-six feet of depth, and increases
much in velocity. This is preparatory to its rush over the "Pongo," a strait of

forty-five miles in length, where the river is confined between high hills, is
much broken with malos pasos, and has its last considerable declivity.
Shapaja has twenty houses, mostly concealed in the high groves of
plantains which surround them. Nearly all the men were away fishing, but
the women (as always) received us kindly, and cooked our supper for us.

CHAPTER VIII.
Tarapoto—Pongo of Chasuta—Chasuta—Yurimaguas—Sta. Cruz—
Antonio, the Paraguá—Laguna—Mouth of the Huallaga.
August 19.—We started in company with a man who, with his peons,
was carrying fish that he had taken and salted below Chasuta to Tarapoto. A
smart walk of five hours (the latter part of it very quick, to avoid the rain
that threatened us) brought us to the town. The road crossed a range of hills
in the forest for about half the distance. The ascent and descent of these
hills were tedious, because light showers of rain had moistened the surface
of the hard-baked earth and made it as slippery as soap. For the other half of
the distance the road ran over a plain covered with high, reedy grass, and
some bushes; there was a short clump-grass underneath that would afford
capital pasturage. The distance between Shapaja and Tarapoto, I judge to be
fifteen miles, and the direction westerly, although I could not tell exactly, on
account of the winding of the road.
Tarapoto—which is situated upon a moderate eminence near the
western edge of the plain before spoken of, and surrounded by hills, which
are mountains in the west—is by far the largest town I have seen since
leaving Huanuco. The district—comprising the towns of Tarapoto, (which
has three thousand five hundred inhabitants,) Chasuta, (which has twelve
hundred,) Cumbasa, Morales, Shapaja, Juan Guerra, and Juan Comas—
numbers six thousand inhabitants.
The principal productions are rice, cotton, and tobacco, all of which are
articles of export, particularly the cloth called tocuyo, woven by the women
from cotton. Nearly all the course of the river, as far as Egas, is supplied

from Tarapoto with this article. As much as thirty-five thousand varas is
said to be made in this place annually. It is valued here at twelve and a half
cents the vara,[7] and increases in price as it floats down the river, until at
Egas it is exchanged for the value of fifty cents in foreign articles from
Pará. It also goes inland as far as Moyobamba, where it is exchanged for
straw hats and English prints.
There is little or no money in this country. Tocuyo, wax from the
Ucayali, and balls of cotton thread, are used in its place. The English goods
that come from the interior sell in Tarapoto for four times their cost in
Lima: for example, a yard of printed calico, which costs in Lima twelve and
a half cents, sells in this place for either a pound of wax, four yards of
tocuyo, or two pounds of cotton thread. (It is worth twenty-five cents,
money.)
I suppose there is a little money obtained for these articles in Huanuco
and Chachapoyas, or left here by travelling strangers. But if so, it falls into
the hands of the traders and is hoarded away. These traders are either
Moyobambinos, (inhabitants of Moyobamba,) or foreigners of Spain,
France, and Portugal. The Moyobambinos are the Jews of the country, and
will compass sea and land to make a dollar. I met with them everywhere on
the river; and I think that I did not enter an Indian village without finding a
Moyobambino domiciliated and trading with the inhabitants. They are a
thin, spare, sickly-looking people, of a very dark complexion, but seem
capable of undergoing great hardship and fatigue, for they carry their
cargoes to marts hundreds of leagues distant by roads or river that present
innumerable difficulties.
They bear a bad character on the river, and are said to cheat and
oppress the Indians; so that when I could not get a yucca for my supper
without paying for it in advance, I vented my spleen by abusing a
Moyobambino, who had treated the people so badly that they distrusted
everybody. But I have had reason, once or twice, for abusing other people
besides Moyobambinos on this account; for the governor of Tarapoto
hesitated about trusting me with a canoe to descend the river, because a
person representing himself as a countryman of mine had run off with one
some years before. I imagine this is the same honest German who "did"
Colonel Lucar at Huanuco.

I met at this place my countryman Hacket, whom I had heard spoken so
highly of in Cerro Pasco and Huanuco. He is employed in making copper
kettles (called pailas) for distilling, and in all kinds of blacksmith and
foundry work. He seems settled in this country for life, and has adopted the
habits and manners of the people. Poor fellow—how rejoiced he was to see
the face and hear the speech of a countryman! I am indebted to him for the
following statistics concerning Tarapoto:
"The population of Tarapoto, with its annexed ports of Shapaja and
Juan Guerra, is five thousand three hundred and fifty souls. The births
annually are from two hundred and twenty to two hundred and fifty; deaths,
from thirty to fifty.
"The principal occupation of the people is the manufacture of cotton
cloth, of which they make from thirty-five to forty thousand varas annually.
This article is sold in Chachapoyas at twelve and a half cents the vara. This,
tocuyo, and white wax, make the exchange of the place. Gold and silver are
almost unknown, but they are articles which the people most desire to have.
The white wax of Mainas is worth four yards of tocuyo the pound. A bull or
cow of good size is sold for one hundred varas of tocuyo; a fat hog of
ordinary size, for sixty; a large sheep, twelve; twenty-five pounds of salt
fish of the vaca marina, or paishi, (equal in quality to cod-fish,) for twelve
varas; twenty-five pounds of manteca (oil or lard) of vaca marina, twelve
varas; twenty-five pounds of coffee, six varas; twenty pounds of rum—of
thirty degrees, twenty-four varas; of sixteen degrees, twelve varas; twenty-
five pounds of cotton in the seed, eight ounces of wax; a laying-hen, four
ounces; a chicken, two ounces; twenty-five pounds of rice in the husk, half
a pound; twenty-five pounds of Indian corn, two ounces; twenty-five
pounds of beans, four ounces; a basket of yuccas, which weighs from fifty
to sixty pounds, two ounces; a head of plantains, which will weigh from
forty to fifty pounds, for three needles; or six heads, delivered in the house,
four ounces of wax.
"A plantain-grove will give in full vigor for fifty or sixty years, without
more attention than to clean it occasionally of weeds; cotton gives a crop in
six months; rice in five; indigo is indigenous; cattle of all kinds augment
with much rapidity.

"All transportation of cargoes by land is made upon the backs of
Indians, for want of roads. The customary weight of a cargo is seventy-five
pounds; the cost of its transportation to Moyobamba, (seventy miles,) is six
varas of tocuyo; to Huanuco, (three hundred and ninety miles,) thirty-two
varas, by water and by land; that is to say, eight Indians will receive in
Tarapoto eight packages, of whatsoever goods, and carry them on their
shoulders to the port of Juan Guerra, where they embark and carry them in a
canoe to the port of Tingo Maria; there they shoulder them again, and carry
them to Huanuco, (eighty miles.) It is to be understood that the owner of the
cargo is to support the peons.
"The ascent of the Huallaga from Juan Guerra to Tingo Maria takes
thirty days; the descent, eight. It has dangerous passes. It is easy to obtain,
in the term of six or eight days, fifty or sixty peons for the transportation of
cargoes, getting the order of the governor and paying the above prices.
"This town is, without dispute, the most important in Mainas, on
account of its neighborhood to navigable rivers, united with an extension of
land free from inundations. Its inhabitants are numerous, civilized, and
docile."
The people have no idea of comfort in their domestic relations; the
houses are of mud, thatched with palm, and have uneven dirt floors. The
furniture consists of a grass hammock, a standing bed-place, a coarse table,
and a stool or two. The governor of this populous district wore no shoes,
and appeared to live pretty much like the rest of them.
August 20 we spent at Tarapoto, waiting for the peons. The governor
preferred that I should pay them in money, which I much doubt if the peons
ever saw. He will probably keep the money and give them tocuyo and wax.
I paid one dollar and fifty cents for the canoe to carry me as far as Chasuta,
a distance of about six hours down, with probably twenty-four to return,
(that is, twenty-four working hours;) fifty cents to each peon; and a dollar to
pay the people to haul the canoe up the bank and place it under the shed at
Shapaja on its return.
The men who carried us from Tocache to Sion preferred half their pay
in money; in all other cases I have paid in cotton cloth, valued at twenty-
five cents the yard; (its cost in Lima was twelve and a half cents). The

amount of pay, generally fixed by the governor, is a yard per man per day,
and about the same for the canoe.
An American circus company passed through Tarapoto a few months
ago; they had come from the Pacific coast, and were bound down the
Amazon. This beats the Moyobambinos for determined energy in making
dollars. I imagine that the adventure did not pay, for I encountered traces of
them, in broken down horses, at several of the villages on the river. They
floated their horses down on rafts.
I spoke with an active and intelligent young Spanish trader, named
Morey, about the feasibility of a steamboat enterprise upon these rivers,
bringing American goods and taking return-cargoes of coffee, tobacco,
straw-hats, hammocks, and sarsaparilla to the ports of Brazil on the river.
He thought that it could not fail to enrich any one who would attempt it; but
that the difficulty lay in the fact that my proposed steamer would never get
as far as this, for that my goods would be bought up and paid for in return-
cargoes long before she reached Peru. He thought, too, that the Brazilians
along the river had money which they would be glad to exchange for
comforts and luxuries.
Were I to engage in any scheme of colonization for the purpose of
evolving the resources of the Valley of the Amazon, I think I should direct
the attention of settlers to this district of Tarapoto. It combines more
advantages than any other I know; it is healthy, fertile, and free from the
torment of musquitoes and sand-flies. Wheat may be had from the high
lands above it; cattle thrive well; and its coffee, tobacco, sugar-cane, rice,
and maize are of fine quality. It is true that vessels cannot come up to
Shapaja, the port of the town of Tarapoto; but a good road may be made
from this town eighteen miles to Chasuta, to which vessels of five feet
draught may come at the lowest stage of the river, and any draught at high
water. Tarapoto is situated on an elevated plain twenty miles in diameter; is
seventy miles from Moyobamba, the capital of the province, a city of seven
thousand inhabitants; and has close around it the villages of Lamas,
Tabalosas, Juan Guerra, and Shapaja.
The Ucayali is navigable higher up than this point, and the quality of
cotton and coffee seems better, within certain limits, further from the

equator. But the settler at the head-waters of the Ucayali has to place
himself in a profound wilderness, with the forest and the savage to subdue,
and entirely dependent upon his own resources. I think he would be better
placed near where he can get provisions and assistance whilst he is clearing
the forest and planting his fields. I am told that the governors of the districts
in all the province of Mainas have authority to give titles to land to any one
who desires to cultivate it.
I saw here very fine fields of Indian corn. The stalk grows quite as high
as on our best bottom-lands in Virginia, and the ears were full, and of good
grain. It may be planted at any time, and it yields in three months, thus
giving four crops a year. A considerable quantity of tobacco is also
cultivated in the neighborhood of Tarapoto. The tobacco seed is planted in
carefully-prepared ground in October. At this time the forest is cleared to
make the plantation. In January the seedlings are ready to transplant, when
the wood that has been cut down is set fire to, and the plantation cleared up
ready to receive the plants. When the plant is about two feet high, the top is
cut off, and the lower leaves, which are generally injured by the dirt, pulled
off, so that the force of the plant may be thrown into the middle leaves. The
crop is gathered, as the leaves ripen, in July and August. They are put under
shelter for a few days to turn yellow, and are then exposed for three or four
days to the sun and dew. After this, they are sometimes sprinkled with a
little molasses and water, and rolled out flat with a wooden roller; the larger
stems are taken out, and they are then put up in long masses of about one
and a half pound weight, and wrapped tightly and closely with some
running vine of the forest. This is the common method; and the common
tobacco of Tarapoto is worth twelve and a half cents (money) the mass
there. A superior kind, made with more care, and put up in short, thick
masses, called andullo, is also made in the province. This is worth twenty-
five cents. The best tobacco is made in Xeberos, in the upper mission, and is
sent to Lima.
August 21.—We started for Juan Guerra on horseback, in company
with a large fishing-party, got up by the Padre for his own profit; he seemed
to carry nearly the whole town with him. The mounted party consisted of
eight. There were two ladies along, whose company added to the gaiety and
pleasure of the canter through the woods. Used as I had become by my
travels in various parts of the world to the free and easy, I must confess that

I was a little startled to see these ladies, when we arrived at Juan Guerra,
denude themselves to a silk handkerchief around the loins, and bathe in the
river within forty yards, and in full sight of all the men.
Arrived at Juan Guerra, we embarked upon the Cumbasa, which
empties into the Mayo. Half an hour's dragging of the canoe over the shoals,
and between the fallen trees on this stream, and one and a half hour's
navigation on the Mayo, carried us to its mouth, which is only a quarter of a
mile above Shapaja, where Morey had the goodness to land us, and then
shoved off to join the priest, who was to camp on a beach above.
The fishing-party of the padre was a large affair. They had four or five
canoes, and a large quantity of barbasco. The manner of fishing is to close
up the mouth of a caño of the river with a net-work made of reeds, and then,
mashing the barbasco root to a pulp, throw it into the water. This turns the
water white, and poisons it, so that the fish soon commence rising to the
surface dead, and are taken into the canoes with small tridents. Almost at
the moment of throwing the barbasco into the water, the smaller fish rise to
the surface and die in two or three minutes; the larger fish survive longer;
and, therefore, a successful fishing of this sort is a matter of half a day, or
till the canoes are filled.
When we left Shapaja for Tarapoto, we placed our trunks, several
without locks, in charge of the women who lived in the shed where we
slept; and, although they knew that the trunks contained handkerchiefs, red
cotton cloth, beads, scissors, &c., (things which they most desire,) we
missed nothing on our return.
August 22.—Two miles below Shapaja is the mal-paso of Estero. A
point of rocks, stretching out from a little stream that enters on the left,
makes this rapid, which is considered a very dangerous one. The stream,
rushing against these rocks, is deflected to a point of rocks that makes out
into the river a little lower down on the other side; this turns it aside again,
and the waves mingle and boil below. The canoe was unloaded, and
conducted by sogas or ropes of vine, over and between the rocks on the left-
hand side. It took an hour to unload, pass the canoe, and load up again.
Three miles further is the mal-paso of Canoa Yacu, (canoe water,) from
many canoes having been wrecked here. This is by far the most formidable

rapid I have seen. There is a small perpendicular fall on each side, and a
shoot of 20° declivity in the middle, down which the water rushes with a
velocity of at least ten miles the hour. The shoot looks tempting, and one is
disposed to try the rush; but there are rocks below, over which the water
dashes up some two or three feet in height; and I think no boat could shoot
out of the force of the stream so as to avoid these rocks.
The river both here and at Estero is not more than thirty yards wide.
The average velocity of the current through the Pongo is six miles the hour.
It took one hour and a half to pass this obstruction. Two miles further down
we shot the mal-paso of Matijuelo under oar; and immediately after, that of
Chumia, where the canoe was let down as before, but without unloading. It
took half an hour to do this. A quarter of an hour afterwards we passed the
rapid of Vaquero; and at 2½ p. m. arrived at Chasuta. We were kindly
welcomed and hospitably entertained by the Cura, Don Sebastian Castro.
Chasuta is the port of the district of Tarapoto. The traders have their
cargoes carried on the backs of Indians between Tarapoto and Chasuta, and
embark and disembark at the latter place to avoid the rapids of the Pongo.
The distance by land, according to Hacket, is eighteen miles; and the cost of
transportation, half a pound of wax for a cargo of seventy-five pounds.
There is from this point no further obstruction to navigation for canoes; and
very little labor would enable a draught of six feet to reach Chasuta at the
lowest stage of the river.
There were canoes in the port, just arrived from below, with salt fish
and wax; and canoes about to start down with the products of the district.
The annual value of the commerce between this place and below is fifteen
hundred dollars. All articles which can readily be transported on the backs
of mules, or Indians, come from Lima, by the way of Chachapoyas and
Moyobamba. These are principally articles of wearing apparel, or stuff to
make them of. Heavier articles—such as iron, iron implements, copper
kettles, (for distilling,) guns, crockery, &c.—come from below. The axes
are narrow, worthless things, made in Portugal, and sold in Tarapoto for a
dollar in money, without handles. Iron (of which the inhabitants are very
careful to buy Swedish only) is worth in Tarapoto twelve and a half cents
the pound. A common plate for the dinner table is worth twenty five cents; a
cup and saucer, twelve and a half cents; a glass with handle to drink water,

fifty cents; a small glass to drink spirits, twenty-five cents; a small basin to
wash the face in, twenty-five cents; looking-glass of one and a half foot
long, and a foot wide, seventy-five cents; penknife of one blade, fifty cents;
small hand-bells for the churches, fifty cents; a pair of coarse scissors,
eighteen and three-quarter cents; a long-pointed, white-handled knife,
thirty-seven and a half cents; small slates, with pencil and sponge, one
dollar; coarse sabres, with wooden handle, seventy-five cents; jews-harp,
twelve and a half cents; horn buttons, six and a quarter cents the dozen.
Morey gave for a common Yankee clock, on the Amazon, seventeen dollars
and fifty cents. These are money values.
One will be told that these articles are sold at double these prices; but
money, on account of its scarcity, is worth double its nominal value; thus a
yard of tocuyo, (the most common currency,) which is always valued in
Nauta, Pebas, Loreto, &c., at twenty-five cents in exchange for efectos, or
goods, may be bought there for twelve and a half cents specie. The traveller
should be aware of this, or he may be paying double prices for things.
The salt fish brought up from below is in large pieces of about eight
pounds each, cut from the vaca marina—the payshi, a fish of one hundred
and fifty pounds weight—and the gamitana, a large flat fish, like the skate.
The piece is worth twelve and a half cents, money, in Tarapoto, and twenty-
five cents in Moyobamba.
The vaca marina (sea cow) of the Spaniards, and peixe boy (fish ox) of
the Portugese, (also found in our Florida streams, and there called
manatee,) is found in great numbers on the Amazon and its principal
tributaries. It is an animal averaging, when full grown, about nine feet in
length, and six in circumference. It has much the appearance of a large seal,
with a smooth skin, dark on the back, a dirty white on the belly, and thinly
sprinkled with coarse hairs. The eyes and ears (or rather holes for hearing)
are very small. The mouth is also small, though it looks large on the
outside, on account of a very thick and wide upper lip, which is shaped like
that of an ox. In the one I examined, which was a young female, I could
discover neither tongue nor teeth, but a thick, rough, and hard, fleshy
cushion attached to both upper and lower jaws, which seemed to me very
well adapted to masticating the grass which grows upon the banks of the
river, and which is its principal food. The tail is broad and flat, and is placed

horizontally. This, with two large fins far in advance, and very near the
jaws, enables it to move in the water with considerable rapidity. It is not
able to leave the water; but in feeding it gets near the shore and raises its
head out. It is, when feeding, most often taken by the Indians. An ordinary-
sized vaca marina will yield from thirty-five to forty pounds of manteca,
which will sell in Tarapoto for three cents the pound, money; besides ten
pieces of salt fish, worth twelve and a half cents each. Fifty cents is the
common price of the fish where it is taken. The governor general of the
missions told me that two men in his employment at Chorococha, on the
Amazon, had taken seven for him in eight days. The flesh, salted or dried, is
a good substitute for pork. It is put up in large jars in its own fat, and is
called michira.
Chasuta is an Indian village of twelve hundred inhabitants, situated on
a plain elevated about twenty-five feet above the present level of the river.
It is frequently covered in the full, and the people take their canoes into
their houses and live in them. The diseases, as all along the river, are
pleurisy, tarbardillo, and sarna. The small-pox sometimes makes its
appearance, but does little damage. It is a very healthy place, and few die.
The Indians of Chasuta are a gentle, quiet race; very docile, and very
obedient to their priest, always saluting him by kneeling and kissing his
hand. They are tolerably good boatmen, but excel as hunters. Like all the
Indians, they are much addicted to drink. I have noticed that the Indians of
this country are reluctant to shed blood, and seem to have a horror of its
sight. I have known them to turn away to avoid killing a chicken, when it
was presented to one for that purpose. The Indian whom Ijurra struck did
not complain of the pain of the blow, but, bitterly and repeatedly, that "his
blood had been shed." They eat musquitoes that they catch on their bodies,
with the idea of restoring the blood which the insect has abstracted.
The padre told me that the fee for a marriage was four pounds of wax,
which was the perquisite of the sacristan; for a burial, two, which went to
the sexton; and that he was regaled with a fowl for a christening. He
complained of the want of salary, or fees; and said that it was impossible for
a clergyman to live unless he engaged in trade. Every year the governor
appoints twelve men to serve him. The commission runs, "For the service of
our holy mother church;" but it means the curate. It is an office of

distinction, and the Indians crave it. They are called Fiscales. They work
the padre's chacra and trapiche; fish for him; hunt for him; (the fishermen
and hunters are called mitayos; this is a remnant of an oppressive old
Spanish law called mita, by which certain services, particularly in the
mines, were exacted of the Indians;) do his washing; wait upon his table;
and carry on for him his traffic on the river, by which he gains his salt fish
and the means to buy crockery for his table.
I bought wax of the curate to pay for the canoes and boatmen to
Yurimaguas. The men desired money, and I told the curate that he had better
let me pay them in money, as to be familiar with its use would tend to
civilize them. But he said that they did not know its value, and would only
hoard it up or use it as ornaments. I don't know what else he will do with it,
for certainly it never circulates. I have not seen a dollar since I left
Huanuco, except those that were in my own hands. That the Indians have no
idea of its value is evident. I bought a pucuna of one. He desired money;
and his first demand was four dollars; which I refused to give. He then said
six reals, (seventy-five cents.) I gave him a dollar, which I thought would
pay him for the time and labor necessary to make another.
As we were now clear of the dangers of the river, and were to be more
exposed to sun and rain, we had coverings made of hoop-poles, and
thatched with palm, fitted to the canoe. The one over the stern, for the
accommodation of the patron, covers about six feet of it, and makes a good
den to retreat to in bad weather. It is called by the Indians pamacari. The
one fitted over the cargo, in the body of the boat, is called armayari. It is
narrower than the other, allowing room for the Indians to sit and paddle on
each side of it.
August 25.—We left Chasuta in company with two canoes; one
belonging to a Portuguese, resident of Tarapoto, carrying a cargo to Nauta;
and the other manned by the Fiscales, and carrying the padre's little venture
of salt. We passed the salt hills of Callana Yacu, where the people of
Chasuta and the Indians of Ucayali and Marañon get their salt. The hills are
not so high as those of Pilluana, and the salt seems more mixed with red
earth. It "crops out" on the banks of the river, which are shelving, and rise
into gentle hills as they recede, covered with bushes and small trees. A
quarter of an hour afterwards we entered a more hilly country; river narrow,

shallow, and rapid; its depth fifteen feet, and its current four and a half
miles the hour. Soon after we passed between cliffs of dark-red rocks,
where the river deepened to forty-two feet. On one of these rocks,
appearing like a gigantic boulder of porphyry, were cut rude figures of
saints and crosses, with letters which are said to express "The leap of the
Traitor Aguirre;" but they were too much worn by time and weather for me
to make them out. There were more recent cuttings in the rock. One of them
were the letters VR, the work, I imagine, of an Englishman belonging to the
circus company. The pass is called "El Salto de Aguirre." We camped on the
right bank of the river, having passed the country of the Infidels.
August 26.—Being in company with Antonio, the Portuguese, who,
knows how to arrange matters, we get a cup of coffee at the peep of day and
are off by half past 5 a. m. At five miles of distance we passed the lower
extremity of the Pongo, which commences at Shapaja. "Pongo" is an Indian
word, and is applied to designate the place where a river breaks through a
range of hills, and where navigation is of course obstructed by rocks and
rapids. The place where the Marañon breaks its way through the last chain
of hills that obstructs its course is called the Pongo de Manseriche. This is
the Pongo de Chasuta. There is only one mal-paso below Chasuta; it is
called the mal-paso del Gabilan, and is just below the Salto de Aguirre. It is
insignificant, and I should not have noticed it at all, but that it was pointed
out to me, and said to be dangerous for canoes in the full of the river.
After passing the Pongo, we entered upon a low, flat country, where the
river spreads out very wide, and is obstructed by islands and sand-banks.
This is the deposit from the Pongo. In the channel where we passed, I found
a scant five feet of water; I suspect, but I could not find out, that more water
may be had in some of the other channels. This shoal water is but for a short
distance, and the soundings soon deepened to twelve and eighteen feet.
Small pebbly islands are forming in the river, and much drift-wood from
above lodges on them. After having stopped two hours to breakfast, we
passed the mouth of the Chipurana, which is about twenty yards wide.
This river flows from the Pampa del Sacramento, and affords, when it
is full, a canoe navigation of about forty miles, taking four days to
accomplish it, on account of shoals and fallen trees. This distance brings the
traveller to the port of Yanayacu, where, in 1835, when Lieutenant Smyth

travelled this route, there was one hut; there is not one now. A walk over a
plain for twenty-five miles reaches the village of Sta. Catalina, which then
had thirty families; now one hundred and sixty inhabitants; so that it has
changed very little in all this time. Embarking at Sta. Catalina, on the river
of the same name, the traveller, in two days of a very difficult and
interrupted navigation, enters the Ucayali; ascending which stream a day
and a half, he arrives at Sarayacu.
I was desirous of going to Sarayacu by this route, but the river would
not, at this season, afford sufficient water for my canoes to reach Yanayacu,
and I moreover did not like to miss the lower part of the Huallaga.
River now two hundred yards wide, free from obstruction, with a gentle
current, and between eighteen and twenty-four feet of depth. We saw turtle-
tracks in the sand to-day for the first time; camped on the beach.
August 27.—Saw flesh-colored porpoises; also a small seal, which
looked like a fur-seal; got turtle-eggs. The turtles crawl out upon the beach
during the night, deposit their eggs, and retreat before dawn, leaving,
however, broad tracks in the sand, by which their deposits are discovered.
We must have got upwards of a thousand; I counted one hundred and fifty
taken from one hole. Since we have passed the Pongo we have encountered
no stones; the beaches are all of sand.
August 28.—Arrived at Yurimaguas. This little village, situated upon a
hill immediately upon the banks of the river, and numbering two hundred
and fifty inhabitants, now appears almost entirely deserted. We could
procure neither peons nor canoes. The men were away in the forest
collecting wax for a fiesta, ordered by the curate; and the sub-prefect of the
province, who had been gold-hunting up the Santiago, had taken all the
canoes up the Cachiyacu with him on his return to Moyobamba. I was told
that his expedition for gold up the Santiago, which consisted of a force of
eighty armed men, had been a failure; that they got no gold, and had lost
five of their company by the attacks of the Huambisas and other savages of
the Santiago. This may not be true. The sub-prefect (I was told) said that the
expedition had accomplished its purpose, which was simply to open
friendly communications with the savages, with a view to further
operations.

With great difficulty, and by paying double, I persuaded our Chasutinos
to take us on to Sta. Cruz, where I was assured I could be accommodated
both with boats and men. We could buy nothing at Yurimaguas but a few
bunches of plantains and some salt fish out of a passing boat.
An island divides the river three-fourths of a mile above Yurimaguas.
The southern branch is the channel; the northern one is closed at its lower
end by a sand-bank opposite the village.
We left Yurimaguas after breakfasting. Half a mile below the village is
the mouth of the Cachiyacu. This river is the general route between
Moyobamba and the ports of the Amazon. It is navigable for large canoes,
when full, (which is from January to June,) as far as Balza Puerto, a
considerable village, five days' journey from Moyobamba. It takes nine
days for a loaded canoe to ascend as far as Balza Puerto. Lieutenant Maw
descended this river in 1827. Communication is also had by the Cachiyacu
with many villages situated in the fine country between the Marañon and
Huallaga rivers: so that Yurimaguas, situated at the mouth of this river, and
having open communication with the Atlantic, may be considered as
occupying an important position in any scheme for navigation and trade.
We met several canoes going up the river for salt; canoes passing each
other on the river speak at a great distance apart. The Indians use a sing-
song tone, that is heard and understood very far, without seeming to call for
much exertion of the voice. Every year at this season the Indians of the
Marañon and Ucayali make a voyage up the Huallaga for their supply of
salt. They travel slowly, and support themselves by hunting, fishing, and
robbing plantain patches on their way.
About eight miles below Yurimaguas, an island with extensive sand-
flats occupies nearly the whole of the middle of the river. We passed to the
right, and I found but a scant six feet of water. The popero said there was
less on the other side; but Antonio, the Portuguese, passed there, and said
there was more. He did not sound, however. We tried an experiment to
ascertain the speed of the canoe at full oar, and I was surprised to find that
six men could not paddle it faster than two miles the hour; ours is, however,
a very heavy and clumsy canoe. We have had frequent races with Antonio
and the Fiscales, and were always beaten. It was a pretty sight to see the

boat of the latter, though laden with salt to the water's edge, dance by us;
and, although beaten, we could not sometimes refrain (as their puntero, a
tall, painted Indian, would toss his paddle in the air with a triumphant
gesture as he passed) from giving a hurrah for the servants of the church.
August 29.—We met a canoe of Conibos Indians, one man and two
women, from the Ucayali, going up for salt. We bought (with beads) some
turtle-eggs, and proposed to buy a monkey they had; but one of the women
clasped the little beast in her arms, and set up a great outcry lest the man
should sell it. The man wore a long, brown, cotton gown, with a hole in the
neck for the head to go through, and short, wide sleeves. He had on his arm
a bracelet of monkey's teeth; and the women had white beads hanging from
the septum of the nose. Their dress was a cotton petticoat tied round the
waist; and all were filthy.
We are now getting into the lake country; and hence to the mouth of the
Amazon, lakes of various sizes, and at irregular distances, border the rivers.
They all communicate with the rivers by channels, which are commonly dry
in the dry season. They are the resort of immense numbers of water-fowl,
particularly cranes and cormorants; and the Indians, at the proper season,
take many fish and turtles from them.
Many of these lakes are, according to the traditions of the Indians,
guarded by an immense serpent, which is able to raise such a tempest in the
lake as to swamp their canoes, when it immediately swallows the people. It
is called in the "Lengua Inga" "Yacu Mama," or mother of the waters; and
the Indians never enter a lake with which they are not familiar that they do
not set up an obstreperous clamor with their horns, which the snake is said
to answer; thus giving them warning of its presence.
I never saw the animal myself, but will give a description of it written
by Father Manuel Castrucci de Vernazza, in an account of his mission to the
Givaros and Zaparos of the river Pastaza, made in 1845:
"The wonderful nature of this animal—its figure, its size, and other
circumstances—enchains attention, and causes man to reflect upon the
majestic and infinite power and wisdom of the Supreme Creator. The sight
alone of this monster confounds, intimidates, and infuses respect into the
heart of the boldest man. He never seeks or follows the victims upon which

he feeds; but, so great is the force of his inspiration, that he draws in with
his breath whatever quadruped or bird may pass him, within from twenty to
fifty yards of distance, according to its size. That which I killed from my
canoe upon the Pastaza (with five shots of a fowling-piece) had two yards
of thickness and fifteen yards of length; but the Indians of this region have
assured me that there are animals of this kind here of three or four yards
diameter, and from thirty to forty long. These swallow entire hogs, stags,
tigers, and men, with the greatest facility; but, by the mercy of Providence,
it moves and turns itself very slowly, on account of its extreme weight.
When moving, it appears a thick log of wood covered with scales, and
dragged slowly along the ground, leaving a track so large that men may see
it at a distance and avoid its dangerous ambush."
The good father says that he observed "that the blood of this animal
flowed in jets, (salia á chorros,) and in enormous abundance. The prejudice
of the Indians in respect to this species of great snakes (believing it to be the
devil in figure of a serpent) deprived me of the acquisition of the dried skin,
though I offered a large gratification for it."
It is almost impossible to doubt a story told with this minuteness of
detail. Doubtless the padre met with, and killed the boa-constrictor; but two
yards of thickness is scarcely credible. He writes it dos varas de grosor.
(Grosor is thickness.) I thought the father might have meant two yards in
circumference, but he afterwards says that the Indians reported them of
three and four yards in diameter, (de diametro.)
We had a fresh squall of wind and rain from the northward and
eastward. The Portuguese, who is a careful and timid navigator, and whose
motions we follow because he is a capital caterer, and has a wife along to
cook for us, pulled in for the beach, and we camped for the night. The beach
where we pitched belongs to an island, or rather what is an island when the
river is full, though the right-hand channel is now dry; the left-hand channel
runs close to the shore, and I could find but five feet water in it, though
there was probably more very close to the shore, which was bold. The
obstruction is narrow, and could be readily cleared away.
Seventy miles below Yurimaguas is Sta. Cruz. This is an Indian village
of a tribe called Aguanos, containing three hundred and fifty inhabitants.

The lieutenant governor is the only white man in it. The women go naked
down to their hips, and the children entirely so. I was quite an object of
curiosity and fear to them; and they seemed never tired of examining my
spectacles. The pueblo is situated on an eminence, as most of the villages of
this country are, to avoid inundation. It has a small stream running by it,
which empties into the river at the port, and is navigable in the rainy season
for loaded canoes. The convento is the most respectable-looking house on
the river. It is divided into apartments; has ceilings; and is plastered, inside
and out, with a white clay. There was a portico in the rear, and it looked
altogether as if it had been designed and built by a person who had some
taste and some idea of personal comfort.
I obtained at this place the sap of a large tree called catao, which is said
to be very poisonous. It appears to be acrid, and acts like a powerful caustic.
The man who chopped the bark, to let the sap run, always turned away his
face as he struck, for fear of its getting into his eyes. The Indians employ it
for the purpose of curing old dull sores. The tree is generally very large; has
a smooth bark, but with knots on it bearing short thorns. The leaf is nearly
circular; it is called in Brazil assacu, and is there thought to be a remedy for
leprosy. We gathered also some leaves and root of a running plant called
guaco, which, steeped in spirits, and applied internally and externally, is
said to be an antidote to the bite of a snake. I think it probable that this may
be a fancy of the Indians, originating from the fact that the leaf has
something the appearance and color of a snake-skin. There is a great
abundance of it all over the Montaña.
We found difficulty in getting canoes at this place. The only one that
would accommodate ourselves and baggage belonged to the church, and,
like its mistress in Peru, it was in rather a dilapidated condition. We
bargained for it with the curaca, (chief of the Indians, and second in
authority to the lieutenant governor;) but when the lieutenant returned from
his chacra, where he had been setting out plantains, he refused to let us have
it, on the ground that it wanted repairs. We were, therefore, obliged to take
two small ones that would barely carry the trunks and boxes, and embark
ourselves in the canoe of the Portuguese.
We have found this man, Don Antonio da Costa Viana, and his family,
quite a treasure to us on the road. He is a stout, active little fellow, about

fifty years of age, with piercing black eyes, long black curls, a face burned
almost to negro blackness by the sun, deeply pitted with the small-pox, and
with a nose that, as Ijurra tells him, would make a cut-water for a frigate.
He is called paraguá, (a species of parrot,) from his incessant talk; and he
brags that he is "as well known on the river as a dog." He has a chacra of
sugar-cane and tobacco, with a trapiche, at Tarapoto. He sells the spirits that
he makes for tocuyo, and carries the tocuyo, tobacco, and chancaca to
Nauta, selling or rather exchanging as he goes. His canoe is fifty feet long
and three broad, and carries a cargo which he values at five hundred dollars;
that is, five hundred in efectos—two hundred and fifty in money. It is well
fitted with armayari and pamacari, and carries six peons—Antonio, himself,
his wife, and his adopted daughter, a child of ten years; besides affording
room for the calls of hospitality. My friend is perfect master of all around
him; (a little tyrannical, perhaps, to his family;) knows all the reaches and
beaches of the river, and every tree and shrub that grows upon its banks. He
is intelligent, active, and obliging; always busy: now twisting fishing-lines
of the fibres of a palm called chambira; now hunting turtle-eggs, robbing
plantain-fields, or making me cigars of tobacco-leaves given me by the
priest of Chasuta. Every beach is a house for him; his peons build his
rancho and spread his musquito curtain; his wife and child cook his supper.
His mess of salt fish, turtle-eggs, and plantains is a feast for him; and his
gourd of coffee, and pipe afterwards, a luxury that a king might envy. He is
always well and happy. I imagine he has picked up and hoarded away, to
keep him in his old age, or to leave his wife when he dies, some few of the
dollars that are floating about here; and, in short, I don't know a more
enviable person. It is true Doña Antonio gets drunk occasionally; but he
licks her if she is troublesome, and it seems to give him very little concern.
I sometimes twit him with the immorality of robbing the poor Indians
of their plantains; but he defends himself by saying, "That to take plantains
is not to steal; to take a knife, or a hatchet, or an article of clothing, is; but
plantains, not. Every body on the river does it. It is necessary to have them,
and he is perfectly willing to pay for them, if he could find the owners and
they would sell them." The old rascal is very religious too; he has, hanging
under the parmacari of his boat, a silver Crucifix and a wooden St. Anthony.
He thinks a priest next of kin to a saint, and a saint perfection. He said to
me, as his wife was combing her hair in the canoe, "A bald woman, Don

Luis, must be a very ugly thing: not so a bald man, because St. Peter, you
know, was bald;" and I verily believe that, although he is very vain of his
black curls, were he to lose them, he would find consolation in the
reflection that he had made an approach, in appearance at least, towards his
great exemplar.
We shoved off from Sta. Cruz at sunset, and camped on the beach a
mile lower down. It is very well to do this, for the canoe-men are taken
away from the temptation of the villages, and are sober and ready for an
early start next morning.
August 31.—Started at 6 a. m.; camped on the beach at a quarter-past 5
p. m.
September 1.—Heavy clouds and rains both to the northward and
eastward and southward and westward, with an occasional spit at us; but we
set the rain at defiance under the palm-thatched roof of Antonio. At half-
past 3 p. m. we arrived at Laguna. This town, the principal one of the
district and the residence of the governor, is one and a half mile from the
port. The walk is a pleasant one through the forest at this season, but is
probably mud to the knees in the rains. It contains one thousand and forty-
four inhabitants; and the productions of the neighborhood are wax,
sarsaparilla, copal, copaiba, and salt fish. I have seen all these in the hands
of the Indians, but in small quantities; there being so little demand for them.
The Cocamillas, who form the largest part of the population of Laguna,
are lazy and drunken. They are capital boatmen, however, when they have
no liquor; and I had more comfort with them than with any other Indians
except those of Tingo Maria.
September 2.—Waiting for boats and boatmen. There are no large
canoes, and we are again compelled to take two. I was surprised at this as I
was led to believe—and I thought it probable—that the nearer we got to the
Marañon the larger we should find the boats, and the means of navigation
more complete. But I have met with nothing but misstatements in my whole
course. The impression I received in Lima of the Montaña was, that it was a
country abounding not only with the necessaries, but with the luxuries of
life, so far as eating was concerned. Yet I am now satisfied that if one
hundred men were to start without provisions, on the route I have travelled,

the half must inevitably perish for want of food. Of meat there is almost
none; and even salt fish, yuccas, and plantains are scarce, and often not to
be had; game is shy; and the fish, of which there are a great number, do not
readily take the hook; of fruit I have seen literally none edible since leaving
Huanuco.
At Chasuta I was assured that I should find at Yurimaguas every facility
for the prosecution of my journey; yet I could get neither a boat nor a man,
and had to persuade my Chasuta boatmen to carry me on to Sta. Cruz,
where the Yurimaguas people said there would be no further difficulty. At
Sta. Cruz I could get but two small and rotten canoes, with three men to
each, for Laguna, which, being the great port of the river, could in the
estimation of the people at Sta. Cruz, furnish me with the means of crossing
the Atlantic if necessary. I had been always assured that I could get at
Laguna one hundred Cocamillas, if I wanted them, as a force to enter
among the savages of the Ucayali; but here, too, I could with difficulty get
six men and two small canoes to pass me on to Nauta, which I expected to
find, from the description of the people above, a small New York. Had it not
been that Senhor Cauper, at that place, had just then a boat unemployed,
which he was willing to sell, I should have had to abandon my expedition
up the Ucayali, and build me a raft to float down the Marañon.
We found at the port of Laguna two travelling merchants, a Portuguese
and a Brazilian. They had four large boats of about eight tons each, and two
or three canoes. Their cargo consisted of iron, steel, iron implements,
crockery-ware, wine, brandy, copper kettles, coarse, short swords, (a very
common implement of the Indians,) guns, ammunition, salt fish, &c., which
they expected to exchange in Moyobamba and Chachapoyas for straw-hats,
tocuyo, sugar, coffee, and money. They were also buying up all the
sarsaparilla they could find, and despatching it back in canoes. They gave
for the arroba, of twenty-five pounds, three dollars and fifty cents in goods,
which probably cost in Pará one dollar. They estimated the value of their
cargoes at five thousand dollars. I have no doubt that two thousand dollars
in money would have bought the whole concern, boats and all; and that
with this the traders would have drifted joyfully down the river, well
satisfied with their year's work. They invited us to breakfast off roast pig;
and I thought that I never tasted anything better than the farinha, which I
saw for the first time.

Farinha is a general substitute for bread in all the course of the Amazon
below the Brazilian frontier. It is used by all classes, and in immense
quantities by the Indians and laborers. Our boatmen in Brazil were always
contented with plenty of salt fish and farinha. Every two or three hours of
the day, whilst travelling, they would stop rowing, pour a little water upon a
large gourd-full of farinha, and pass around the mass (which they called
pirào) as if it were a delicacy.
The women generally make the farinha. They soak the root of the
mandioc (Jatropha Manihot) in water till it is softened a little, when they
scrape off the skin, and grate it upon a board smeared with some of the
adhesive gums of the forest and sprinkled with pebbles. The white grated
mass is put in a conical-shaped bag, made of the coarse fibres of a palm,
and called tapiti. The bag is hung up to a peg driven into a tree, or a post of
the shed; a lever is put through a loop at the bottom of the bag; the short end
of the lever is placed under a chock nailed to the post below, and the
woman hangs her weight on the long end. This elongates the bag, and
brings a heavy pressure upon the mass within, causing all the juice to ooze
out through the interstices of the wicker-work of the bag. When sufficiently
pressed the mass is put on the floor of a mud oven; heat is applied, and it is
stirred with a stick till it granulates in very irregular grains, (the largest
about the size of our No. 2 shot,) and is sufficiently toasted to drive off all
the poisonous qualities which it has in a crude state. It is then packed in
baskets (lined and covered with palm-leaves) of about sixty-four pounds
weight, which are generally sold, all along the river, at from seventy-five
cents to one dollar. The sediment of the juice which runs from the tapiti is
tapioca, and is used to make custards, puddings, starch, &c.
September 3.—Our boatmen came down to the port at 8 a. m. They
were accompanied, as usual, by their wives, carrying their bedding, their
jars of masato, and even their paddles; for these fellows are too lazy, when
on shore, to do a hand's turn; though when embarked they work freely,
(these Cocamillas,) and are gay, cheerful, ready, and obedient. The dress of
the women is nothing more than a piece of cotton cloth, generally dark
brown in color, wrapped around the loins and reaching to the knee. I was
struck with the appearance of one, the only pretty Indian girl I have seen.
She appeared to be about thirteen years of age, and was the wife of one of
our boatmen. It was amusing to see the slavish respect with which she

waited upon the young savage, (himself about nineteen,) and the lordly
indifference with which he received her attentions. She was as straight as an
arrow, delicately and elegantly formed, and had a free, wild, Indian look,
that was quite taking.
We got off at a quarter past nine; the merchants at the same time; and
the padre also returns to-day to Yurimaguas; so that we make a haul upon
the population of Laguna, and carry off about seventy of its inhabitants.
Twenty-five miles below Laguna, we arrived at the mouth of the Huallaga.
Several islands occupy the middle of it. The channel runs near the left bank.
Near the middle of the river we had nine feet; passing towards the left bank
we suddenly fell into forty-five feet. The Huallaga, just above the island, is
three hundred and fifty yards wide; the Amazon, at the junction, five
hundred. The water of both rivers is very muddy and filthy, particularly that
of the former, which for some distance within the mouth is covered with a
glutinous scum, that I take to be the excrement of fish, probably that of
porpoises.
The Huallaga, from Tingo Maria, the head of canoe navigation, to
Chasuta, (from which point to its mouth it is navigable for a draught of five
feet at the lowest stage of the river,) is three hundred and twenty-five miles
long; costing seventy-four working hours to descend it; and falling four feet
and twenty-seven hundredths per mile. From Chasuta to its mouth it has
two hundred and eighty-five miles of length, and takes sixty-eight hours of
descent, falling one foot and twenty-five hundredths per mile. It will be
seen that these distances are passed in nearly proportional times. This is to
be attributed to the time occupied in descending the malos pasos, for the
current is more rapid above than below. The difference between the times of
ascent and descent is, on an average, about three for one. It is proper to state
here that all my estimates of distance, after embarkation upon the rivers,
being obtained from measurement by the log-line, are in geographical miles
of sixty to the degree.

CHAPTER IX.
Entrance into the Amazon—Nauta—Upper and Lower Missions of
Mainas—Conversions of the Ucayali—Trade in sarsaparilla—Advantages
of trade with this country.
The river upon which we now entered is the main trunk of the Amazon,
which carries its Peruvian name of Marañon as far as Tabatinga, at the
Brazilian frontier; below which, and as far as the junction of the Rio Negro,
it takes the name of Solimoens; and thence to the ocean is called Amazon. It
is the same stream throughout, and to avoid confusion I shall call it Amazon
from this point to the sea.
The march of the great river in its silent grandeur was sublime; but in
the untamed might of its turbid waters, as they cut away its banks, tore
down the gigantic denizens of the forest, and built up islands, it was awful.
It rolled through the wilderness with a stately and solemn air. Its waters
looked angry, sullen, and relentless; and the whole scene awoke emotions of
awe and dread—such as are caused by the funeral solemnities, the minute
gun, the howl of the wind, and the angry tossing of the waves, when all
hands are called to bury the dead in a troubled sea.
I was reminded of our Mississippi at its topmost flood; the waters are
quite as muddy and quite as turbid; but this stream lacked the charm and the
fascination which the plantation upon the bank, the city upon the bluff, and
the steamboat upon its waters, lends to its fellow of the North; nevertheless,
I felt pleased at its sight. I had already travelled seven hundred miles by
water, and fancied that this powerful stream would soon carry me to the
ocean; but the water-travel was comparatively just begun; many a weary

month was to elapse ere I should again look upon the familiar face of the
sea; and many a time, when worn and wearied with the canoe life, did I
exclaim, "This river seems interminable!"
Its capacities for trade and commerce are inconceivably great. Its
industrial future is the most dazzling; and to the touch of steam, settlement,
and cultivation, this rolling stream and its magnificent water-shed would
start up into a display of industrial results that would indicate the Valley of
the Amazon as one of the most enchanting regions on the face of the earth.

Pr. Vernazzi del. Wagner & McGuigan's Lith. Phila.

GIVARO.
Pl. 13.

From its mountains you may dig silver, iron, coal, copper, quicksilver,
zinc, and tin; from the sands of its tributaries you may wash gold,
diamonds, and precious stones; from its forests you may gather drugs of
virtues the most rare, spices of aroma the most exquisite, gums and resins of
the most varied and useful properties, dyes of hues the most brilliant, with
cabinet and building-woods of the finest polish and most enduring texture.
Its climate is an everlasting summer, and its harvest perennial. I
translate from a book of travels in these countries, by Count Castelnau,

(received since my return to the United States,) an account of the capacities
of some of the southern portions of this vast water-shed:
"The productions of the country are exceedingly various. The sugar-
cane, of which the crop is gathered at the end of eight months from the time
of planting, forms the chief source of wealth of the province of Cercado.
"Coffee is cultivated also with success in this province, and in that of
Chiquitos yields its fruit two years after having been planted, and requires
scarcely any attention. Cocoa, recently introduced into these two provinces,
gives its fruit at the end of three or four years at most. The tamarind, which
thrives in the same localities, produces its harvest in five years. Cotton
gives annual crops; there are two varieties—the one white, the other yellow.
Tobacco grows, so to speak, without cultivation in the province of Valle
Grande, where it forms the principal article of commerce. Indigo, of which
there are three cultivated kinds and one wild, is equally abundant. Maize
yields at the end of three months all the year round; it is also cultivated in
the province of Cercado. The cassave produces in eight months after
planting; there are two kinds of it—one sweet, and the other bitter; the first
can replace the potato, and even bread; the second is only good for starch.
There is an enormous amount of kinds or varieties of bananas, which
produce in the year from seed; they are specially cultivated in the province
of Cercado. Two kinds of rice—one white, the other colored—are cultivated
in the two provinces of Cercado and Chiquitos. They produce every five or
six months; they say it is found wild in the region of Chiquitos.
"The grape, which grows well everywhere, and especially in the
province of Cordilleras, where it was cultivated in the Missions up to the
time of the Independence, is nevertheless made no article of profit. It will
some day, perhaps, form one of the principal sources of wealth of this
country. Wheat, barley, and the potato might be cultivated with advantage in
the provinces of Chiquitos and Cordilleras; but till now results have been
obtained only in that of Valle Grande. The cultivation of cocoa has
commenced in the province of Cercado, and it is also found in a wild state,
as well as the Peruvian bark, on the mountains of Samaripata. As we have
already said, fruits abound in this region. They cultivate there principally
oranges, lemons, citrons, figs, papaws, pomegranates, melons, watermelons,
chirimoyas, (which the Brazilians call fruto de conde,) pine apples, &c. The

last of these fruits grow wild, and in great abundance, in the woods of
Chiquitos. We met it, particularly the evening of our arrival, at Santa Ana.
Its taste is excellent; but it leaves in the mouth such a burning sensation that
I bitterly repented having tasted it. They cultivate in sufficient abundance,
in the province, jalap, Peruvian bark, sarsaparilla, vanilla, rocou, copahu,
ipecacuanha, caoutchouc, copal, &c. Woods for dyeing, cabinet making,
and building, abound; and the people of the country collect carefully a
multitude of gums, roots, and barks, to which they attribute medicinal
virtues the most varied. In many points in the departments, and especially in
the provinces of Valle Grande and Cordilleras, iron is found, and traces of
quicksilver. Gold is found in the province of Cercado, near the village of
San Xavier. The Jesuits wrought mines of silver in the mountains of
Colchis. Don Sebastian Rancas, while governor of Chiquitos, announced to
the government that diamonds, of very fine water, had been found in the
streams in the environs of Santo Corazon."
September 4.—The shores of the river are low, but abrupt. The lower
strata next to the water's edge are of sand, hardening into rock from the
superincumbent pressure of the soil with its great trees. There were a great
many porpoises sporting in the river. At 3 p. m. we passed the narrow arm
of the river that runs by Urarinas, a small village situated on the left bank.
The channel inside the island seemed nearly dry. Ijurra, however, passed
through it in a small canoe, and bought some fowls and a small monkey at
the pueblo. The channel of the river runs near the right bank. Population of
Urarinas, eighty.
September 5.—The patos reales, a large and beautiful species of duck
with which the river abounds, are now breeding. We saw numbers of pairs
conducting their broods over the water. Though the young ones could not
fly, they could dive so long and fast that we could not catch them. I brought
home a pair of these ducks, and find that they answer exactly to the
description of the Egyptian goose. They have small horns on their wings.
We met canoes of Tarapoto from the Ucayali with salt fish; also one
belonging to Urarinas, returning from carrying sarsaparilla to Nauta.
September 6.—Passed the mouth of the small river Airico on the left.
One of our Indians says that the ascent of this river for a week brings the

traveller to a lake, and for another week, to mountains.
We have had quite heavy squalls of wind and rain every day since
entering the Amazon. The canoes are so low that they cannot ride the waves
of mid-river, and are compelled to haul in for the land, and wait for the
storm to pass. We saw alligators to-day, for the first time.
September 7.—Arrived at Parinari. This is an Indian village of three
hundred and thirty inhabitants, situated on a hill on the right bank of the
river. It is about twenty feet above the present level of the river, which rises,
in the full, to within three feet of the houses. The people live principally by
fishing, and gathering sarsaparilla to sell at Nauta. The lieutenant governor
gave us some spirits made of plantains. It was vile stuff; very strong; and is
said to be unwholesome.
September 8.—Saw Ronsocos; and the Fiscales killed six howling
monkeys with their pucunas. Passed the mouth of Tigre Yacu on the left. It
is seventy yards broad, and looks deep and free from obstruction. Its waters
are much clearer than those of the Amazon. It is navigable for canoes a long
way up; and a considerable quantity of sarsaparilla is gathered on its banks,
though inhabited by savages, who are said to be warlike and dangerous. We
camped at night on an island near the middle of the river. A narrow island
lay between us and San Regis, a small pueblo on the left bank, whence we
could hear the sound of music and merry-making all night. It has two
hundred and ten inhabitants.
The Fiscales, cooking their big monkeys over a large fire on the beach,
presented a savage and most picturesque night scene. They looked more
like devils roasting human beings than like servants of the church.
September 9.—Passed a channel called Pucati, which is a small mouth
of the Ucayali. It is now nearly dry. In the rainy season it is passable for
canoes; but spreads out so much in its course (forming small lakes) that it
leaves few places to kindle a fire on, or sleep; and is, for this reason, little
used. It takes three days to come through it from the Ucayali to the
Amazon; and six to traverse it the other way. Soon after leaving this, we
passed another small channel, said to communicate with a large lake—a
large one probably in the full, when this whole country between the
Ucayali, Amazon, and channel of Pucati, is nearly overflowed. We arrived

at Nauta at noon, having travelled two hundred and ten miles from the
mouth of the Huallaga.
We called on the governor general of the Missions of Mainas, Don José
Maria Arebalo, who received us with some formality, and gave us lodgings
in one of the houses of the village—I suspect, turning out the inhabitants for
that purpose. My companion, Ijurra, was not sure of a cordial reception; for,
when sub-prefect of the province, he had caused Arebalo to be arrested and
carried prisoner from Balza Puerto to Moyobamba. But our friend was
much too magnanimous to remember old feuds, and he and Ijurra soon
became boon companions.
Nauta is a fishing village of one thousand inhabitants, mostly Indians of
the Cocama tribe, which is distinct from that of the Cocamillas of Laguna.
It has a few white residents engaged in trading with the Indians for salt fish,
wax, and sarsaparilla, which are obtained from the Ucayali. Don Bernardino
Cauper, an old Portuguese, does most of the business of the place. He sends
parties of Indians to fish or gather sarsaparilla upon the Napo and Ucuyali;
and he has two or three boats (called in this part of the country garreteas)
trading down the river as far as Egas. He supplies all the country above with
foreign articles from Brazil, and receives consignments from the upper
country, which he sends to Egas.
Don Bernardino lives in a sort of comfort. He has plenty of meat,
(calling turtle, salt fish, and fowls meat,) with farinha from below, and
beans and onions from his little garden. There is good tobacco from above
to smoke, and wholesome, though fiery, Lisbon wine to drink. I have been
frequently struck during my journey with the comparative value of things.
The richest man of a village of one thousand inhabitants, in the United
States, would think Bernardino's table poorly supplied, and would turn up
his nose at a grass hammock slung between two hooks in the shop for a
bed-place. Yet these things were regal luxuries to us; and, doubtless, being
the best that are to be had, Don Bernardino is perfectly contented, and
desires nothing better.
The old gentleman is very pious. The Cura of Pebas was at this time in
Nauta, attending to the repairs of the church; and we celebrated a nine-days'
service (Novena) in honor of our Lady of Mercy, the patroness of the arms

of Peru. The expenses of the service (being a fee for the padre and the
lighting of the church with wax) were borne by individuals. The padre gave
the first day; then Senhor Cauper; then his wife, his wife's sister, his son, his
pretty Brazilian niece, Donna Candida; then came Arebalo; then Ijurra and
I; the priest winding up on Sunday. But my old friend was not contented
with this; and when I shoved off on Monday for the Ucayali, I left him
engaged in another church service, setting off rockets, and firing, from time
to time, an old blunderbuss, loaded to the muzzle, in honor of a miracle that
had happened in Rimini, in Italy, some year and a half ago, of which we had
just received intelligence.
The governor general gave me some statistics, from which it appears
that the province of Mainas is divided into the province proper, (of which
the capital is Moyobamba,) the upper and lower Missions, and the
Conversions of the Ucayali.
The upper Mission has four districts—Balza Puerto, Xeberos, Laguna,
and Andoas; containing seventeen villages, and nine thousand nine hundred
and eleven inhabitants. The lower Mission has two districts—Nauta and
Loreto, with seventeen villages, and three thousand seven hundred and
eighty-nine inhabitants. The Conversions of the Ucayali are confined to the
villages of Sarayacu, Tierra Blanca, and Sta. Catalina, and number one
thousand three hundred and fifty inhabitants, mostly converts of the Panos
tribe. They are governed by priests of the College of Ocopa, who are under
the spiritual direction of its guardian; but hold their temporal authority
under the prefect of the department. Arebalo estimates the number of whites
in the Missions and Conversions—counting men, women, and children—at
four hundred and seven.
Both Missions are under the authority of a governor general, who holds
his commission from the sub-prefect of the province. Each district has its
governor, and each town its lieutenant governor. The other authorities of a
town are curacas, captains, lieutenants, adjutants, ensigns, sergeants,
alcaldes, and constables. (All these are Indians.) The office of curaca is
hereditary. The right of succession is sometimes interfered with by the
white governor; but this always gives dissatisfaction, and is occasionally
(added to other grievances) the cause of rebellion and riot. The savages treat

their curaca with great respect, and submit to corporal punishment at his
mandate.
I know of no legal establishment in the Missions—the law proceeding
out of the mouths of the governors. Indians are punished by flogging or
confinement in the stocks; whites are sometimes imprisoned; but if their
offence is of a grave nature, they are sent to be tried and judged by the
courts of the capital.
Arebalo estimates the value of the commerce of the Missions with
Brazil at twenty thousand dollars annually; and that with the Pacific coast,
through Chachapoyas and Truxillo, at twenty thousand more. The vegetable
productions of the Missions do not equal the value of the imports; but the
people get some money from the coast for their manufactures of coarse
cotton and straw-hats; and a little gold is occasionally obtained from the
sands of the Napo and Pastaza.
The Missions send to Chachapoyas and Truxillo tobacco, salt fish,
straw-hats, coarse cotton cloths, wax, incense for the churches, balsam
copaiba, and vanilla, and receive, in return, cattle, horses, goods of Europe,
and a little money. The Brazilians bring up heavy articles—such as I
described as composing the cargo of the traders we met at Laguna; and take
back straw-hats, hammocks of the Indians, sarsaparilla, and money. The
value of the sarsaparilla of the Missions is estimated at two thousand dollars
at the place of production, and six thousand at its place of sale in Brazil; the
value of the wax at the same at the place of production; and at four
thousand dollars at place of sale. The greatest profit, however, is made on
the fish, of which thirty thousand pieces are taken annually in the Ucayali
and Amazon. It costs there about three cents the piece; and is worth in
Tarapoto, Lamas, and other places of the province, about twelve and a half
cents the piece.
Estimate of the expenses and returns of a canoe-load of salt-fish from
Nauta to Balza Puerto.

Estimate of the expenses and returns of a canoe-load of salt-fish from Nauta
to Balza Puerto.
Dr. A canoe-load of eight hundred pieces may be $25 00
bought in Nauta for one yard of English cotton

cloth (valued at twenty-five cents) for every
eight pieces
Freight, or hire of canoe, for thirty-six days, from
Nauta to Balza Puerto, at 3⅛ cents per day 1 12½
Pay of seven peons, 12 yards of cotton cloth of
Tarapoto, valued at 12½ cents the yard 10 50
Maintenance of the seven men for thirty-six days,
at 3 cents per day 7 56
44 18½
Cr. Eight hundred pieces in Balza Puerto, at 12½ cents 100 00
Profit 55 81½
or about one hundred and twenty-six per cent. in thirty-six days.
The return-cargo also yields a profit: so that my friend, the governor,
who by virtue of his office can get as many men to take fish for him as he
wants, will probably return to civilized parts in a few years with a snug little
sum in his pocket. Old Cauper is rich, and the priest in comfortable
circumstances.
Estimate of expenses and returns of an expedition from Nauta to the
Ucayali for the collection of sarsaparilla. (The expedition will occupy four
months of time.)

Estimate of expenses and returns of an expedition from Nauta to the
Ucayali for the collection of sarsaparilla. (The expedition will occupy four
months of time.)
Dr. Hire of two garreteas, that will carry seventy-five
arrobas each, at 3⅛ cents per day, (four months) $7 50
Eighteen peons from Nauta to Sarayacu, at ten yards
of English cotton cloth each, (twenty-five cents) 45 00
Support of these peons for twenty days, at 3⅛ cents
per man per day 11 25
Contract with fifty Pirros or Conibos Indians (who
now take the boats and go up the tributaries of the
Ucayali) for the delivery by each man of three
arrobas of sarsaparilla, at 75 cents the arroba 112 50

Hire and support of peons for the return from
Sarayacu to Nauta—being one-third of the amount
for the trip up 18 75
195 00
Cr. One hundred and fifty arrobas, worth in Nauta two
dollars the arroba 300 00
Profit in four months 105 00
or about thirteen and a half per cent. per month.
The people engaged in this occupation make, however, more profit, by
cheating the Indians in every possible mode. They also own the garreteas;
and, by management, support their peons for less than three cents per day.
This is an estimate made up from information given by Arebalo. Hacket
makes a much better business of it. He says, "Eighty working hours above
Sarayacu, on the Ucayali, is the mouth of the river Aguaytia, on the banks
of which grows sarsaparilla in sufficient quantity not only to enrich the
province of Mainas, but all the department of Amazonas. Its cost is eight
varas of tocuyo the hundred pounds, undertaking the work of gathering it
with formality—that is to say, employing one hundred persons under the
direction of a man of talent, and paying them a monthly salary of twenty-
four varas of tocuyo each; quadruple the price that is generally paid in
Mainas.
"It sells in Nauta, Peruate, and Loreto for nine dollars the hundred
pounds, gold or silver coin; in Tabatinga, (frontier of Brazil,) for ten dollars
and fifty cents; in Pará, for twenty-five dollars; and in Europe, for from
forty to sixty dollars, in times of greatest abundance."
Sarsaparilla is a vine of sufficient size to shoot up fifteen or twenty feet
from the root without support. It then embraces the surrounding trees, and
spreads to a great distance. The main root sends out many tendrils,
generally about two lines in diameter, and five feet long. These are gathered
and tied up in large bundles of about a Portuguese arroba, or thirty-two
pounds of weight. The main root, or madre, should not be disturbed; but the
Indians are little careful in this matter, and frequently cut it off, by which
much sarsaparilla is destroyed. The digging up of the small roots out of the
wet and marshy soil is a laborious and unhealthy occupation.

It is to be found on the banks of almost every tributary of the great
streams of the Montaña; but a great many of these are not worked, on
account of the savages living on their banks, who frequently attack the
parties that come to gather it. On the "Pangoa" are the Campas; on the
"Pachitea," the "Aguaytia," and the "Pisque," are the "Cashibos;" and the
whole southern border of the Amazon, from the mouth of the Ucayali to
that of the Yavari, is inhabited by the "Mayorunas;" all savages, and averse
to intercourse with the white man. The same is the case on the "Tigreyacu,"
where there is said to be much sarsaparilla. Padre Calvo, the president of
the Missions at Sarayacu, told me that, although he has the exclusive right,
by order of the prefect, of collecting all the sarsaparilla on the Ucayali and
its tributaries, he could not, if I were willing to pay any price, supply me
with more than three hundred arrobas per annum, on account of the
difficulty of getting laborers who are willing to brave the attacks of the
savages.
I have estimated the annual cost of running a small steamer between
Loreto, the frontier port of Peru and Chasuta, a distance of eight hundred
miles, entirely within the Peruvian territory, at twenty thousand dollars,
including the establishment of blacksmiths' and carpenters' shops at Nauta
for her repairs. According to the estimate of Arebalo, (and I judge that he is
very nearly correct,) the value of the imports and exports to and from Brazil
is twenty thousand dollars annually. I have no doubt that the appearance of
a steamer in these waters would at once double the value; for it would, in
the first place, convert the thousand men who are now employed in the
fetching and carrying of the articles of trade into producers, and would give
a great impulse to trade by facilitating it. A loaded canoe takes eighty days
to ascend these eight hundred miles. A steamer will do it in twelve, giving
ample time to take in wood, to land and receive cargo at the various villages
on the river, and to lay by at night. When the river becomes better known
she can run for a large part of the night, and thus shorten her time nearly
one-half. Men shrink at the eighty days in a canoe, when they will jump at
the twelve in a steamer.
The steamer will also increase commerce and trade by creating
artificial wants; men will travel who did not travel before; articles of luxury
—such as Yankee clocks, cheap musical instruments, &c.—will be
introduced, and the Indians will work to obtain them; and, in short, when

the wonders that the steamboat and railroad have accomplished are taken
into consideration, I shall not be thought rash in predicting that in one year
from the time of the appearance of the steamer, Arebalo's twenty thousand
dollars will be made forty thousand.
Thus we shall have twenty thousand dollars' worth of goods going up
from Loreto to Chasuta, paying at least one hundred per cent.; and twenty
thousand dollars going down, paying another hundred per cent.; giving to
the steamboat company (who would monopolize the trade) forty thousand
dollars a year, against twenty thousand dollars of expenses.
There would be no difficulty in getting a supply of fuel. My Peruvian
steamer would have to make her way slowly up, for the first time, by
collecting and cutting up the abundant drift-wood on the islands; but she
could readily contract with the governors of the thirty-six villages between
Pará and Chasuta for a regular supply. The Brazilian government has an
organized and enlisted corps of laborers, under the orders of the military
commandants, and I should suppose would be willing to employ them in
furnishing wood, on account of the great advantages to be derived from the
increase of trade. The Indians of the Peruvian villages are entirely obedient
to their governors; and a sufficient number of them may always be had, at
wages of twelve and a half cents per day, with about three cents more for
their maintenance. This amount of wages may be reduced one-half by
paying them in articles for their consumption, bought at Pará or brought
from the United States.
The only difficulty that I have in my calculations is that I know there
are not forty thousand dollars in the whole province; its productions must
find their way to the Pacific, on the one hand, and to the Atlantic, on the
other, before they can be converted into money. My steamer, therefore, to
be enabled to buy and sell, must communicate at Loreto with a larger
steamer, plying between that place and Barra, at the mouth of the Rio
Negro, a distance of eight hundred and forty miles; and this with another
still larger, between Barra and Pará, a distance of a thousand miles.
These three steamers (however much I may be out of my calculations
regarding the one confined to the Peruvian territory) could not fail to enrich
their owners; for they would entirely monopolize the trade of the river,

which is fairly measured by the imports and exports of Pará, which
amounted in 1851 to two millions of dollars.
These two millions are now brought down to Pará, and carried away
from Pará, (with the exception of what is consumed in the city,) by clumsy,
inefficient river-craft, which would vanish from the main stream at the first
triumphant whistle of the engine. These would, however, until the profits
justified the putting on of more steamers, find ample employment in
bringing down and depositing upon the banks of the main stream the
productions of the great tributaries.
I can imagine the waking-up of the people on the event of the
establishment of steamboat navigation on the Amazon. I fancy I can hear
the crash of the forest falling to make room for the cultivation of cotton,
cocoa, rice, and sugar, and the sharp shriek of the saw, cutting into boards
the beautiful and valuable woods of the country; that I can see the gatherers
of India-rubber and copaiba redoubling their efforts, to be enabled to
purchase the new and convenient things that shall be presented at the door
of their huts in the wilderness; and even the wild Indian finding the way
from his pathless forest to the steamboat depôt to exchange his collections
of vanilla, spices, dyes, drugs, and gums, for the things that would take his
fancy—ribbons, beads, bells, mirrors, and gay trinkets.
Brazil and Peru have entered into arrangements, and bound themselves
by treaty, to appropriate money towards the establishment of steamboat
navigation on the Amazon. This is well. It is doing something towards
progress; but it is the progress of a denizen of their own forests—the sloth.
Were they to follow the example lately set by the republics of the La Plata,
and throw open their rivers to the commerce of the world, then the march of
improvement would be commensurate with the importance of the act; and
these countries would grow in riches and power with the rapidity of the
vegetation of their own most fertile lands.
We, more than any other people, are interested in the opening of this
navigation. As has been before stated, the trade of this region must pass by
our doors, and mingle and exchange with the products of our Mississippi
valley. I am permitted to take extracts bearing upon this subject from a
letter of an eminent American citizen residing in Lima to the Superintendent

of the National Observatory, whose papers upon the Amazon, its resources
and future importance, have attracted the attention, not only of our own
people, but that of those who dwell or have territorial possessions upon this
great water-shed; and to whom belongs the honor of originating the mission
upon which I have been engaged.
This gentleman in Lima, whose comprehensive mind and ripe judgment
had been attracted to the subject by Maury's pen, says to the Lieutenant,
under date of July, 1852:
"Since I last wrote to you, I have made the acquaintance of Don ——, a
native of Chili, and whom Gibbon saw at Cochabamba, in Bolivia. This is
undoubtedly a clever man; but I suspect that he has also come to act as a
secret agent of Belzu, the President of Bolivia. However that may be, he
pretends that Belzu is favorably disposed towards us, and would grant
privileges to a steam navigation company, were application made to him in
due form. As I know of no other individual in Bolivia with whom I could
communicate on the subject of Amazonian navigation, I did not hesitate to
make use of him; for, in my opinion, there is no time to be lost if the United
States intend to secure the interior trade of South America for its citizens.
"Don —— declares that the Mamoré is navigable for steamers from a
point near Cochabamba to its confluence with the Guaporé or Itenez, and so
onward to the junction of the latter with the Beni, forming together the Rio
Madeira; that the 'Cachuelas,' or falls of the Madeira, are neither impassable
nor formidable, and may be easily ascended by steamers, as there is plenty
of water and no rocks. To prove this, he asserts that a Brazilian schooner
ascended the Mamoré to Trinidad, and fired a salute at that place, about two
years ago. After passing the falls, the river is, of course, navigable to the
Amazon. Admitting this statement of Don —— to be true, (and I am
inclined to believe it, as the Brazilians constantly ascend the Itenez to Matto
Grosso,) there is open navigation from Pará to within a few leagues of
Cochabamba, at least two thousand miles; and this is not so incredible when
we consider the length of navigation on the Missouri river. The accessibility
of the Bolivian rivers will, however, be ascertained with greater certainty
after Gibbon has passed through the Cachuelas of the Madeira, as it is to be
hoped that he will sound, and otherwise minutely examine, the different
rapids of that river, and correct the errors which Don —— says are in the

chart made by ——, a copy of which I sent you by Mr. O'Brian for
Herndon.
"The account Don —— gives of the products of the country lying on
the banks of the Mamoré is very glowing. He says that the richest cocoa and
coffee grow almost wild, and that the greatest part of the former is
consumed by the monkeys and birds, for the want of means of transporting
it to a market. Sugar-cane of gigantic dimensions is found everywhere, with
white and yellow cotton of a staple equal to Sea island. Several kinds of
cascarilla grow in abundance, as also sarsaparilla and gums, ornamental and
other woods, and honey and wax, in immense quantities. Crossing the
Mamoré from Exaltacion to the southwest, you arrive at the river Machuno,
which, according to Don ——, is a small 'Pactolus;' and he assures me that
the whole country between the Mamoré and the Itenez, from latitude 14° to
the north, is a gold district as rich as California.
"My opinion decidedly is, that the whole country traversed by the rivers
issuing from the slope of the Eastern Cordillera, from Santa Cruz de la
Sierra, in Bolivia, to the mouth of the Ucayali, in Peru, is one immense gold
and silver region; gold being found in the flats near the rivers, and silver in
the mountains. I will venture to predict that the same region contains
diamonds and other precious stones, some of which are probably unknown
to the lapidary at present. The silver mines of Carabaya were immensely
productive when worked by Salcedo; so much so, that the vice-regal
government trumped up an accusation against him, tried him, and ordered
his execution, to obtain possession of the mines by confiscation. The
attempt failed, as the Indians, who were devoted to Salcedo, refused to give
any information to the government respecting the mines; and they have
remained unworked up to the present time.
"Gold is known to exist in considerable quantities at Carabaya, and in
the Pampa del Sacramento. I have seen specimens from the former place;
but gold is the least attraction for emigration to Bolivia; the soil and its
products are the source from which the wanderers from foreign lands are to
find plenty and happiness. The climate is said to be good, and the Indians,
except upon the lower part of the Beni, peaceable and well disposed to the
whites. In short, according to Don ——, the east of Bolivia affords the
greatest sphere for trade and colonization.

"For myself, I feel full of this vast subject; for I know that within less
than one hundred leagues of me is the margin of those great solitudes:
replete with riches, and occupying the wild space where millions of the
human race might dwell in plenty and happiness; where nature annually
wastes more than would support the population of China in comfort; and
where the most luxurious fruits and fairest flowers grow and bloom
unknown and unnoticed. When I reflect on this, and on the miles of rivers
rolling on in silence and neglect, I feel doubly the want of power and
money to accomplish their introduction to the civilized world.

"I think that the energies and influence of all the friends of South
American internal navigation and colonization should be directed towards
forming a company, with a large capital, and to obtain the aid and support
of the Congress of the United States. I know how difficult an undertaking it
is to wring an appropriation out of our national legislature, for any purpose;
but if the subject could be fairly brought before it, and some of the leading
senators and representatives could be excited to take a patriotic interest in it,
perhaps something might be done.
"We must, on our side, do all we can, and by dint of perseverance we
may succeed at last in accomplishing our object. Should we do so, it will be
a proud satisfaction to ourselves; though the public may, and probably will,
leave us to exclaim—
"'Hos ego versiculos feci, tulit alter honores!'

"I shall continue working on and writing to you whenever I have
anything of the least interest to communicate."
The greatest boon in the wide world of commerce is in the free
navigation of the Amazon, its confluents and neighboring streams. The
back-bone of South America is in sight of the Pacific. The slopes of the
continent look east; they are drained into the Atlantic, and their rich

productions, in vast variety and profusion, may be emptied into the
commercial lap of that ocean by the most majestic of water-courses.
The time will come when the free navigation of the Amazon and other
South American rivers will be regarded by the people of this country as
second only in importance to the acquisition of Louisiana.
Having traversed that water-shed from its highest ridge to its very caves
and gutters, I find my thoughts and reflections overwhelmed with the
immensity of this field for enterprise, commercial prosperity, and human
happiness.
I can bear witness to the truth of the sentiment expressed by my friend,
Mr. Maury, that the Valley of the Amazon and the Valley of the Mississippi
are commercial complements of each other—one supplying what the other
lacks in the great commercial round. They are sisters which should not be
separated. Had I the honor to be mustered among the statesmen of my
country, I would risk political fame and life in the attempt to have the
commerce of this noble river thrown open to the world.

CHAPTER X.
Nauta—River Ucayali—Sarayacu—The Missionaries—The Indians of
the Ucayali.
Señor Cauper has four or five slaves in his house—blacks, which he
brought from Brazil. This is contrary to the law, but it is winked at; and I
heard the governor say that he would like much to have a pair. Mr. Cauper
said they would be difficult to get, and would cost him five hundred dollars
in money. A slave that is a mechanic is worth five hundred dollars in Brazil.
Arebalo gave us specimens of the woods of the country; they are called
aguano, ishpingo, muena, capirono, cedro, palo de cruz, (our lignum-vitæ,)
and palo de sangre—all good, whether for house or ship-building; and
some of them very hard, heavy, and beautiful. The palo de sangre is of a
rich red color, susceptible of a high polish; and a decoction of its bark is
said to be good to stay bloody evacuations. I had no opportunity of testing
it, but suspect it is given on the homœopathic principle, that "like cures
like," because it is red. I thought the same of the guaco, in the case of the
snake-bite.
The temperature of Nauta is agreeable. The lowest thermometer I
observed was 71° at 6 a. m., and the highest 89° at 3 p. m. We have had a
great deal of cloudy weather and rain since we have been on the Amazon;
and it is now near the commencement of the rainy season at this place. No
one suffers from heat, though this is probably the hottest season of the year;
the air is loaded with moisture; and heavy squalls of wind and rain sweep
over the country almost every day. In the dry months—from the last of
February to the first of September—a constant and heavy breeze blows,

nearly all day, against the stream of the river; the wind, at all seasons, is
generally easterly, but is at this time more fitful and liable to interruption;
so that sail-boats bound up make, at this season, the longest passages. The
river, which is three-fourths of a mile wide opposite Nauta, and has an
imposing appearance, has risen four feet between the sixteenth and twenty-
fifth of September.
The town is situated on a hill, with the forest well cleared away from
around it, and is a healthy place. I saw only two cases of sickness during my
stay of two weeks. They were acute cases of disease, to which people are
liable everywhere. Both patients died; probably for want of medical
attention. I gave the man who had the dysentery some doses of calomel and
opium, (a prescription I had from Dr. Smith, of Lima;) but he died with the
last dose. Though solicited, I would have nothing to do with the other case.
It was a woman; and I had no confidence in my practice. I could only add
my mite to a subscription raised by the whites for the benefit of her orphan
children.
The Cocamas of Nauta are great fishermen and boatmen, and I think
are bolder than most of the civilized tribes on the river. They make
incursions, now and then, into the country of the Mayorunas—savages who
inhabit the right banks of the Ucayali and Amazon—fight battles with them,
and bring home prisoners, generally children. When travelling in small
numbers, or engaged in their ordinary avocations on the river, they
studiously avoid the country of their enemies, who retaliate whenever
opportunity offers.
These Indians are jealous, and punish conjugal infidelity with severity,
and also departure from the laws of chastity on the part of the unmarried
female.
Arebalo thinks that the population of the Missions is increasing, and
found by the census, taken carefully last year by himself, that the number of
women exceeded that of the men by more than one thousand.
A boat came in from above on the eighteenth, and reported the loss of
another belonging to Enrique, one of the traders we had met at Laguna. She
was loaded with salt and cotton cloth; and, in passing the mouth of Tigre
Yacu in the night, struck upon a "sawyer," capsized, and went down. A boy

was drowned. Macready would have envied the low, soft, sad tones and
eloquent gestures, expressive of pity and horror, with which an Indian told
us the disastrous story.
September 20.—We paid twelve rowers and a popero, and set them to
work to fit up our boat with decks and coverings. I had purchased this boat
from Mr. Cauper for sixty dollars, the price he paid for it when it was new.
Most persons on the river held up their hands when I told them what I had
paid for it; but I thought it was cheap, especially as I was obliged to have it
on any terms. He had it repaired and calked for us.
The boat (called garretea) is thirty feet long, seven wide in its widest
part, and three deep. The after-part is decked for about ten feet in length
with the bark of a palm-tree, which is stripped from the trunk and flattened
out by force. The deck is covered over by small poles, bent in hoop-fashion
over it, and well thatched with palm-leaves; making quite a snug little
cabin. The pilot stands or sits on this roof to direct and steer, and sleeps
upon it at night, to the manifest danger of rolling off. About twelve feet of
the middle of the boat is covered and decked in like manner; but the
covering is lower and narrower, giving room for the rowers to sit on each
side of it to paddle. Most of the cargo is stowed under the decks, thus
leaving a cabin for both Ijurra and myself. There is a space between the two
coverings which is not decked over, that gives a chance for bailing the boat
when she takes in water; and a sufficient space is left in the bow on which
to place a large earthen vessel to make a fire in.
I bought from Senhor Cauper some Portuguese axes, some small fish-
hooks, (called by the Indians mishqui,) and some white beads, which are
most coveted by the savages of the Ucayali.
We had several fishing pic-nics with the priest and governor, and
altogether a pleasant time at Nauta.
September 25.—Having engaged a servant, a Tarapotino, named Lopez,
and embarked our luggage and provisions, I hoisted a small American flag,
given me from the frigate Raritan, and got under way for the Ucayali. We
started with ten peons, but were joined by two others in a skiff (called
montaria) next morning. In fifty-five minutes we arrived at the mouth of the
Ucayali. It is a beautiful stream, with low, shelving, green banks at its

mouth. But I was disappointed in its size; it was not more than half as wide
as the Amazon. It is the longest known tributary above Brazil, and is
therefore called by some the main trunk of the Amazon. We poled and
paddled slowly up the left bank for four and a half miles, and stopped at a
bluff where there were one or two huts of Nauta people. Threatening rain,
we attempted to sleep in the boat; but our musquito curtains not being
properly prepared, we passed a wretched night.
September 26.—Taking advantage of the eddies and still water near the
shore, we paddled and poled along at about the rate of a mile and a half per
hour. Our men work well. They commence paddling with a strong, slow
stroke, of about fifteen or twenty to the minute, and gradually quicken them
till they get to be half-second strokes. They keep this up for about half an
hour, when, at a shout from the bowman, they toss their paddles in the air,
change sides, and commence the slow stroke again. They, however, prefer
poling to paddling, and will always make for a beach, where they can use
their poles, which they do in a lazy, inefficient manner.