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  [Illustration: CATHEDRAL OF LIMA.

     Pl 1.
     Lt. Gibbon del.
     Wagner & McGuigan's Lith. Phila.]

     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—Vicente
               Pazos—Preparatory orders—Lima—Means of
               information—Conquests of the Incas in the
               Montaña—First exploration of the Spaniards—Madame
               Godin.                                                1

     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.                                               20

     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.                              39

     CHAPTER IV.

     Mines of Morococha—A Yankee's house—Mountain of
               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.            61

     CHAPTER V.

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

     CHAPTER VI.

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

     CHAPTER VII.

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

     CHAPTER VIII.

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

     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.                                            176

     CHAPTER X.

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

     CHAPTER XI.

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

     CHAPTER XII.

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

     CHAPTER XIII.

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

     CHAPTER XIV.

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

     CHAPTER XV.

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

     CHAPTER XVI.

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

     CHAPTER XVII.

     Departure from Santarem—Monte
               Alegre—Prainha—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.                           319

     CHAPTER XVIII.

     Pará.                                                         334

     CHAPTER XIX.

     Resumé.                                                       352

     APPENDIX.

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

     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