CARAVAYA.

Chinchona forests of Tambopata.

On the morning of April 27th we crossed a rude bridge over the Huari-huari, and began to make our way up the face of the steep mountain on the other side, first through a thick forest, and then up into the grassy highlands, until, after several halts, we at length reached the summit of the ridge, though a mountain-peak still rose up in our rear. From this point there was a most extensive panoramic view. A sea of ridges rose one behind the other, with stupendous snowy peaks in the background, and, more than a thousand feet below, the rivers of Sandia and Huari-huari, reduced to mere glittering threads, could be seen winding through the tortuous ravines. We had now reached the pajonales, and were on a ridge or back-bone between the rivers of Laccani and San Lorenzo, two tributaries of the Huari-huari; a grass-covered and comparatively cold region, interspersed with thickets, forming the crest of the tropical forests which line the sides of the ravines through which the rivers wind, far below.

When there is sunshine, these pajonales form a very pleasant landscape: the broad expanse of grass, dotted over with a graceful milk-white flower called sayri-sayri, is intersected by dense thickets, some in the gullies and watercourses, and others in clumps, like those in an English park, the palms and tree-ferns raising their graceful heads above the rest of the trees. Here and there a black pool of sweet water is met with at the edge of the thicket, with chinchona and huaturu-trees drooping over it. Everywhere there is an abrupt boundary to the foreground in the profound forest-covered ravines, with splendid views of mountain ranges in the distance.

The vegetation of the thickets in these pajonales consists of palms, tree-ferns, MelastomaceÆ (Lasiandra fontanesiana) with bright showy flowers, exceedingly pretty EricaceÆ (GaultheriÆ), VacciniÆ, the huaturu or incense-tree in great quantities, and ChinchonÆ, chiefly consisting of C. Caravayensis (Wedd.), with a few plants of Calisaya Josephiana, but the latter are much more rare here than in the neighbourhood of Paccay-samana. The C. Caravayensis, a worthless species, has panicles of beautiful deep roseate flowers, large coarse hairy capsules, and lanceolate leaves, above smooth with purple veins, and hairy on the under side. It can probably bear greater cold than any other chinchona.[327]

The afternoon was passed in searching for plants of the shrubby Calisaya, but with little success. During our examination of the thickets we found a single specimen, evidently belonging to the Calisaya species, but in the form of a tree, and not of a shrub. Its height was eighteen feet six inches; its girth, two feet from the ground, eight and a half inches; and the position in which it was growing was 5680 feet above the level of the sea. I was uncertain whether it belonged to the tree variety (Calisaya vera, Wedd.), or to the shrub (Calisaga Josephiana); for Dr. Weddell only gives the height of the latter at eight or ten feet.

Near the banks of one of the black pools, overhung by spreading branches, we found a shed, a roof of coarse grass raised on four sticks four and a half feet high, and here we encamped for the night. It had been made by some party of incense-collectors from Bolivia, who wander through these wilds. Towards sunset it began to pour with rain, and continued through the night.

From this point to the Tambopata valley the road was unknown to my Indians, and had not been traversed since the time of the bark-trade, which came to an end fifteen years ago. It was supposed that any path which might once have existed would be entirely choked up by the forest, and I therefore started early in the morning, with Andres Vilca, to reconnoitre. The backbone of the ridge along which we travelled was not level, but up and down like a saw, and very rough work. After walking for a league the ridge ended where a transverse range of hills, at a lower elevation, connects the mountains on the further sides of the rivers of San Lorenzo and Laccani, and, closing up the ravines, contains their sources. This range, at right angles with the one over which we had journeyed, is called the Marun-kunka, and is covered with dense forests. It was necessary to force our way through this formidable obstruction, and we plunged into it at once. Our progress was vigorously opposed by closely matted fallen bamboos for the first few hundred yards, and afterwards we followed the course of a torrent, deeply cut in the rock, and forming a passage four to six feet deep, and about three feet across, with masses of ferns and the roots of enormous forest-trees interlacing across overhead, and two feet of exceedingly tenacious yellow mud underfoot. In many places it was almost dark at midday, while in others the rays of the sun succeeded in forcing their way through the ferns, and throwing a pale light across the otherwise gloomy passage. It was a weird unearthly scene. After several hours of very laborious travelling we at length forced our way across the Marun-kunka, and came out upon another pajonal, on the eastern side, whence there was a grand view of the forest scenery towards Tambopata, and the snowy peaks of the cordillera above Quiaca and Sina to the right.

The afternoon was again devoted to searching for plants of Calisaya Josephiana in the thickets; where the C. Caravayensis was very plentiful, together with several plants of the shrubby Calisaya, and four or five trees of the normal tree Calisaya, from 20 to 30 feet high. The elevation of this place was 5600 feet above the sea. Later in the day the journey was continued over a most difficult country, sometimes over grassy pajonales, and at others painfully struggling through forests like those on the Marun-kunka. In one of these forests I came upon a Calisaya-tree, 38 feet high, and 1 foot 3 inches in girth at a distance of 3 feet from the ground, which was several feet deep in dead leaves, chiefly the smooth leathery leaf of the huaturu-tree. At length we commenced the descent into the valley of Tambopata, 1200 feet down slippery rocks and grass, then through a belt of forest, until we suddenly emerged on an open space on the banks of the large rapid river, where there was a bamboo hut. A little coca and sugar-cane was planted, but the occupant was absent. With touching confidence he had left his door open, so my Indians established themselves comfortably, while Weir and I pitched the tent.

The river of Tambopata, descending from the farm of Saqui near the frontier of Bolivia, here flows in a northerly direction. Up the stream I could see a few little clearings, but looking down nothing appeared but the virgin forest. A most magnificent range of mountains, with a fine growth of forest trees, rises up on either side, and the rapid swollen river rushed through the centre of the ravine. The rock of all the ranges of hills between the Huari-huari and Tambopata rivers is a yellow clay-slate, with masses of white quartz cropping out on the pajonales.

Early in the morning we continued our journey down the valley, through a forest of grand timber, passing the little hut of Tambopata which Dr. Weddell had mentioned to me as having been the great rendezvous for cascarilleros or chinchona-bark collectors, at the time of his visit. After wading across the rapid little river of Llami-llami, which enters the Tambopata on the left bank, we came to a small clearing, planted with sugar-cane, the property of a very energetic and obliging old Bolivian, named Don Juan de la Cruz Gironda. He was living in a shed, open on two sides, and with a young son, and two or three Indians, was actively clearing, planting sugar-cane, and making rum in an extemporized distillery of his own manufacture. This little farm was the extreme outpost of civilisation in this direction, and had only been commenced since December 1859.

Gironda was cultivating sugar-cane, maize, and edible roots; and, at the time of my visit, he was just commencing his michca, or small sowing of maize. His people were driving holes in the ground with long poles, about a foot deep, into which they drop four to six grains, and cover over. The holes are four feet apart, for here the maize grows to an immense height. The agricultural tools were of a most primitive kind. The ground is first broken and cleared with a bit of old iron, fastened, at an acute angle, on a short handle. It is further broken up by an attempt at a spade, an oblong piece of iron, bent at one end round a long pole. The weeds and brushwood are cleared away by an instrument like the first, only turned a different way, both being secured to their handles by leathern thongs. They reap with the blade of an old knife, and where the clods require to be broken up very fine, as in coca plantations, it is done by hand. The only use that Gironda puts his small supply of sugar-cane to, as yet, is making spirits and a small quantity of treacle. The cane is expressed by a very primitive mill of three upright rollers of hard wood, worked by a single capstan-bar and a mule, the juice flowing into a gutter, and running thence, through a bamboo, into a large jar. The juice is then placed in two long canoes, hollow trunks of trees, where it is allowed to ferment. In about eight days the fermentation is over, and it is ready for distilling. This sugar-beer is called huarapu, and is rather good. The juice is then poured into a large jar, over an oven, and above the mouth of this jar he places the broken side of another smaller one, covering the joining round with mud. From the mouth of the second jar a bamboo is led through a large canoe to the mouth of a third jar. The fire is lighted in the oven, the canoe is filled with cold water to condense the vapour as it comes up through the bamboo, and the work of distilling begins; the clear colourless rum soon commencing to flow out of the bamboo into the receiving-jar. The sugar-cane is of the purplish-brown kind, which is said to ripen quickest.

Gironda also raises a few edible roots, such as yucas (Jatophra manihot), aracachas[328] (Conium maculatum), camotes or sweet potatoes, and ocas. He gave me the following information respecting the climate and seasons in the valley of Tambopata, which is worthy of attention, as this is the very centre of the C. Calisaya region.

January.—Incessant rain, with damp heat day and night. Sun never seen. Fruits ripen.

February.—Incessant rain and very hot. Sun never seen. A coca harvest.

March.—Less rain, hot days and nights, little sun. Bananas yield most during the rainy season.

April.—Less rain; hot, humid nights, and little sun in the daytime.

May.—A showery month, but little heavy rain. This is the month for planting coca and sugar-cane, and what is called the michca, or small sowing of maize, as well as yucas, aracachas, camotes, and other edible roots. Coffee-harvest begins.

June.—A dry hot month. Much sun and little rain. Coca-harvest early in the month. Oranges and paccays ripen. Cool nights, but a fierce heat during the day.

July.—The hottest and driest month, but with cool nights. Very few showers. Time for sowing gourds, pumpkins, and water-melons.

August.—Generally dry. Trees begin to bud. A month for planting.

September.—Rains begin. Time for blossoming of many trees. Coca-harvest.

October.—Rains increasing. Maize-harvest, and time for the "sembra grande," or great sowing of maize.

November.—Heavy rains. A coca-harvest.

December.—Heavy rains. Pumpkins ripen.

The inhabitants of the valley of Tambopata consist of Gironda, his two little boys, one Victorio Jovi, Villalba, and the cascarillero named Martinez. Another cascarillero, named Ximenes, has lately died. They live with their families at a place called Huaccay-churu, about half a mile up the Llami-llami river, where there are a few huts, and a small clearing. Gironda's little farm is the last inhabited spot; beyond is the illimitable virgin forest, stretching away for hundreds, nay thousands of miles, to the shores of the Atlantic. This forest has not been traversed since 1847, when the bark trade ceased, and it is quite closed up.

By the desertion of one of my Indians on the day we left Sandia, the other three and Pablo Sevallos were barely able to carry the provisions and other necessaries, so that, on reaching Gironda's clearing, which is called Lenco-huayccu,[329] I found that I had only sufficient food to last for six days. Gironda himself was little better off, and was living on roots, and chuÑus or potatoes preserved by being frozen in the loftiest parts of the Andes. I determined, however, to penetrate into the forest, in search of chinchona-plants, for six days, and to trust to Gironda's kindness to supply me with provisions to enable me to return to Sandia.

I was so fortunate as to secure the services of Mariano Martinez, an experienced cascarillero, who had acted as guide to Dr. Weddell, on the occasion of his visit to the valley of Tambopata in 1846. He was thoroughly acquainted with all the different species of chinchona-trees, and, reared from a child in these forest solitudes, he was a most excellent and expert woodman, intelligent, sober, active, and obliging.

On May 1st we prepared to enter the dense entangled forest, where no European had been before, and no human being for upwards of thirteen years, except the Collahuayas and incense-collectors. Our party consisted of seven: the three Indians, Weir, Pablo, Martinez, and myself. The Indians, each with their chuspas of coca, and a chumpi or belt round their waists, carried the ccepis or bundles of provisions; Pablo bore the tent; and we were all armed with machetes, or wood-knives, to clear the way. My people were all dressed in coarse cotton cloth, and I wore a leathern hat, red woollen shirt, fustian trousers, and the indispensable polccos, or shoes made of bayeta or felt, always used in these forests. We were all mustered and ready to start on the verge of Gironda's clearing, which is surrounded by tall forest trees, with the river rushing noisily past, and the opposite mountains covered to their summits with fine timber, when half a dozen pale-faced men emerged from the tangled thicket in our front. They looked wan and cadaverous like men risen from the dead, and worn out by long watching and fatigue. They turned out to be Collahuayas, collectors of drugs and incense, who penetrate far into the forests to obtain their wares, and come forth, as we then saw them, looking pale and haggard.

These Collahuayas, called also Chirihuanos on the coast of Peru, YungeÑos, and Charasanis, are a very peculiar race. They come from three villages in the forest-covered ravines of the Bolivian province of Larecaja, called Charasani, Consata, and Quirbe; and their knowledge of the virtues of herbs has been handed down from father to son from time immemorial. They traverse the forests of Bolivia and Caravaya collecting their drugs; and then set out as professors of the healing art, to exercise their calling in all parts of America, frequently being two and three years away from their homes, on these excursions. With their wallets of drugs on their backs, and dressed in black breeches, a red poncho, and broad-brimmed hat, they walk in a direct line from village to village, exercising their calling, and penetrating as far as Quito and Bogota in one direction, and to the extreme limits of the Argentine Republic in the other. Their ancestors did the same in the time of the Incas, and Garcilasso de la Vega gives some account of the medical treatment adopted by the ancient Peruvian physicians. They were in the habit of letting blood and purging, they administered the powdered leaf of the sayri (tobacco) for headaches, mulli (Schinus molle) for wounds, and a host of other simple herbs for other ailments. Both Garcilasso[330] and Acosta[331] mention their knowledge of the virtues of sarsaparilla, yet it is remarkable that the Collahuayas should never have discovered the febrifugal qualities of chinchona bark.

We saluted these hard-working physicians, and then entered the forest from which they had just emerged. A short walk brought us to the river Challuma,[332] a tributary of the Tambopata, which we waded across. Martinez told me that this was the extreme point reached by Dr. Weddell, and that he came here to see a tree of C. micrantha growing.

Beyond the Challuma there is no road at all, and the really serious forest work began; two hornets stinging me on the temple and back of the neck, as I forced my way through the first bush. Martinez went in front as pioneer, clearing away obstructions with his machete, and the rest of our little party followed. Between lordly trees of great height the ground was entirely choked up with creepers, fallen masses of tangled bamboo, and long tendrils which twisted round our ankles, and tripped us up at every step. Ten miles on open ground is only equal to one over such country as this. In many places we had to scramble through the same dense forest, along the verge of giddy precipices which overhung the river. Often we came upon tracks where a giant of the forest had fallen, bearing all before it, and finally dashing over the cliff into the river below. The Tambopata was boiling and surging over a rocky bed, at times far below us, while at others we took advantage of a short strip of rocky beach to escape the forest. Thus we struggled on until sunset, when we reached a stony beach, and encamped for the night. This had been a most fatiguing march. In some places we were a quarter of an hour forcing and cutting our way through a space of twenty yards, and the halt was most welcome. It was a wild scene as the darkness closed round: the camp-fire and Indians on the beach, the dense gloomy forest close behind, the boiling river in front, and forest-clad mountains rising up on the other side.

From this, the first day of our forest-life, until the 14th of May, being just a fortnight, we were actively engaged in the examination of the chinchona region, and in the collection of plants. As the best way of recording the results of our investigations, I now propose to give a detailed account of our proceedings from day to day; and, in the following chapter, to recapitulate our observations with special reference to the climate, soil, and general habit of those species of chinchonÆ which came immediately under our notice. I owe much to the intelligent assistance of our guide Martinez, who, to great experience in woodcraft, added a lynx's eye for a Calisaya-plant; and it required no little quickness and penetration to distinguish these treasures, amidst the close entanglement of the undergrowth, in the dense forests. Martinez spoke Spanish very imperfectly, and, without a knowledge of Quichua, I should have found much difficulty in conversing with him; but he had a most complete and thorough knowledge of all forest-lore, and was acquainted with the native name of almost every plant, and with the uses to which they were or might be applied.

At dawn the Indians found the marks of a jaguar on the beach close to the tent; and a huge snake wriggled through the fallen trees as we re-entered the forest. The brilliant colours and great variety of butterflies were very striking. I particularly noticed one, bright blue and crimson above, with the underside marked with a pattern, as if drawn by a crow-quill on a snow-white ground, edged with deep blue. After struggling through the forest for about a mile we came to the foot of the tremendous precipices, one on either side of the river, which Martinez called Ccasa-sani. That on our (the western) shore rises up perpendicularly from the water to a height which we estimated at 500 feet, ending in a rocky peak. Its sides are masses of bare polished rock, except in the rear, and in some crevices, where vegetation finds a foothold. Amongst other trees the paccay (Mimosa Inga), with its cottony fruit, was drooping over the bubbling waves. The river, surging furiously over and around huge masses of rock, dashed noisily on between the two precipices.

We had to ascend the western precipice of Ccasa-sani by a frightful kind of ladder, formed of ledges in the rock, or half-rotten branches of trees, here and there having to cross a yawning chasm on the fallen stems of tree-ferns rotting from age. Near the summit we had a glorious view of the forest-covered mountains, running up into sharp peaks, with graceful palms rising above the other trees on their crests, and standing out against the sky. Several Calisaya-trees were growing on the summit, with bunches of young capsules, in company with the leathery-leafed huaturu, and the Aceite de Maria (ElÆagia MariÆ, Wedd.). The latter is a tree about thirty feet high, with bark covered with white lichens. Among the numerous ferns the most conspicuous was a very large Polypodium, called calaguala. Descending the rocks of Ccasa-sani, we had to continue the work of cutting our way through the forest, our passage being opposed by matted entanglements of bamboo, and a Panicum with blades, the edges of which cut like a penknife, called challi-challi. On many of the trees there were hornets'-nests, globes of mud fixed to the leaves, and covered with the insects. I was inadvertently going to touch one, which was attached to the back of a large fern-frond, when Martinez, with great dexterity, hurled the plants down the precipice, before the savage creatures were aware of their danger.

We were now in the midst of the chinchona region; and passed several trees of C. ovata (morada ordinaria) and C. micrantha (verde paltaya). There were also great quantities of a false chinchona, called by Martinez Carhua-carhua blanca. We passed through several large groves of this species, which appeared to be a Lasionema, but differed in several respects from the L. chinchonoides, mentioned by Dr. Weddell as growing in the Caravayan forests. The tree is very common near the banks of the river Tambopata, frequently with its boughs, large coarse leaves, and panicles of flowers, drooping over the water.[333]

The magnitude and variety of the trees of the forest were very striking; and the imposing character of the scenery, in these vast solitudes, was a source of constant enjoyment, and lightened the fatigues of the journey. Among the wonders of the forest there were enormous trees with great buttressed trunks, others sending down rope-like tendrils from the branches in every direction, the gigantic balsam-tree, the india-rubber tree, and many others. A list of the ferns or mosses, endless in the variety of their shape and size, would fill volumes. Of palms, also, there were many kinds. The tall chonta, with its hard serviceable wood; the slender beautiful chinilla (Euterpe?); the towering muruna (Iriartea?), with its roots shooting out in every direction from eight feet above the ground, and triangular-notched leaflets; the chaquisapa (Astrocaryum?), with its lofty stem thickly set with alternate rings of spines, and thorny leaves; the sumballu (Giulielma?), a beautiful palm with a slender stem covered with long sharp spines, numerous graceful leaves, and an edible fruit; and above all the sayal, the monarch of the palms of these forests, with a rather short thick stem, inner fibres of the stalks like black wool, but with enormous leaves growing rather erect from the stem to a length of at least forty feet—I should think they must be the largest leaves in the whole vegetable kingdom. Among the bright flowers there were crimson MelastomaceÆ, called ccesuara, a scarlet Justitia, the Manetia coccinea, and many beautiful orchids in the branches of the trees.

At length, after a very hard day's work, we reached the mouth of the Yana-mayu[334] or Black river; and attempted to wade across the Tambopata, but found it too powerful. I was particularly anxious to effect this, as Martinez assured me that chinchona-trees were most abundant on the right or eastern bank. We, however, managed to get upon an island, near the left bank, and encamped for the night on a shingly beach. After sunset it came on to rain very heavily, and the waters foamed furiously around us in the inky darkness. The rain continued to pour down, and the waters to rise through the night, and I hourly expected the island to be submerged; but, fortunately, we escaped this danger, though the river came up to within a very few feet of the tent-door. I served out a dram of brandy to all hands.

In the morning of May 3rd I continued my attempts to cross the river, by stripping and trying the water for a ford at several points, with a long pole as a support. But the water was deep, much swollen, and very rapid; and, after having twice been as nearly as possible carried away by the fury of the stream, I was obliged unwillingly to give up the attempt for the present. I considered it prudent also to remove our encampment from the island, and to establish it on a narrow beach overshadowed by the forest, at the point where the muddy waters of the Yana-mayu unite with those of the Tambopata.

These arrangements having been made, we devoted the day to an examination of the adjacent forest. The spot on which we were encamped was about 4600 feet above the sea. Our tent was pitched close to the foaming torrent, and behind rose up the tall dark forests. In front were the steep green sides of the Yana-mayu ravine, while looking down the river the view was bounded by forest-covered mountains, surmounted by the lofty peak of Corimamani. On the actual banks of the river there were trees of C. micrantha, with large bunches of lovely and deliciously sweet white flowers; many carhua-carhua blancas; and a chinchonaceous tree, which Martinez called HuiÑapu. The HuiÑapu grows low down and near the banks of rivers. Its capsules are three inches long; and the veins of the leaves are a pale purple. Dr. Weddell tells me that he recollects gathering the leaves of the HuiÑapu, and that he took it to be a variety of Cascarilla magnifolia.

We commenced the day's work in the forest on the south-west slopes of the Yana-mayu ravine, scrambling up the steep forest-covered declivity amongst palms, tree-ferns, bamboos, and trees with buttressed trunks of stupendous size. Here too were the vast leaves of the sayal palm. At a height of 400 feet above the river the Calisaya region commences; while in the lower belt, from the river banks to a height of 400 feet, the most abundant chinchonaceous plant is the Carhua-carhua grande (Cascarilla Carua, Wedd.), with very fragrant white flowers. I met with flowers and capsules together on the same tree, which is forty feet high, with a thick trunk, fine spreading branches, and masses of beautiful white flowers.

I found that the C. Calisaya region extended in a belt from 450 to 650 feet above the banks of the river; bamboos, large palms, C. micranthas, HuiÑapus, Lasionemas, and the Cascarilla carua being found below that line, and other species of chinchonÆ and chinchonaceous plants above it. We collected twenty-five Calisaya-plants, two of them fine strong seedlings, and the remainder root-shoots springing up from trees which had been cut down by cascarilleros in former times, but with good spreading roots of their own. The search was exceedingly hard work, scrambling through matted undergrowth, and up steep ascents, through masses of rotting vegetation.

The afternoon was devoted to an examination of the heights on the north-east side of the Yana-mayu, where, at an elevation of 450 feet, there is a level table-land, covered with palms and bamboos. The search was chiefly conducted along a ridge above this plateau, where the bamboos ended. We obtained twenty more plants of C. Calisaya, one of which was declared by Martinez to be a Calisaya morada (C. Boliviana, Wedd.), and the leaf agreed well with Dr. Weddell's description, though that botanist believed that the species was not found in this part of Caravaya, but only in the valleys of Ayapata, further north. To-day we saw a couple of tunquis,[335] birds with the most gorgeous plumage I ever beheld. They are the size of large pigeons, with orange-scarlet feathers on the head, neck, breast, and tail, black wings, light-grey back, and scarlet crest. They have a shrill, harsh cry. The butterflies and moths were numerous and brilliant, but so tame, and in such swarms, as to be a perfect plague. There was one bright swallow-tail, with blue wings, fringed with crimson. The torments from venomous insects were maddening; especially from a kind of fly which in a moment raised swellings and blood-red lumps all over the hands and face, causing great pain and irritation. During the night it rained heavily, with peals of thunder, and vivid flashes of lightning, while the river increased in size, and roared past the tent noisily.

The collection of chinchona-plants was deposited in a shady place, near the tent, the roots being well covered over with soft moss.

On the morning of May 4th the river was so swollen as to destroy all hopes of crossing it for the present. It frequently changed its colour, on one morning the surging flood being black, on another tolerably clear, and on another a light muddy colour. By these means Martinez could always tell where the rains had been heaviest, and what stream was contributing an unusual freshet to swell the waters of the Tambopata.

I devoted the day to examining the forest on the declivities overhanging the left bank of the Tambopata, and this was by far the most toilsome and dangerous forest journey we had yet made, rendered worse by a comparative want of success. The whole way was along giddy precipices, seeming to hang half way between the sky and the roaring torrent, with no foothold but decaying leaves, nothing to grasp but rotten branches, every motion a drenching bath from wet leaves, every other step a painful and dangerous slip or fall, besides hornets, and endless thorns. Among the latter I was struck by a tree called itapallu, with trunk and branches thickly set with thorns, very large leaves, and the fruit in clusters, like bunches of pearls with purple stalks. We met with large pigeons, flocks of green parrots, paroquets, and tunquis. The forest peeps across the river were superb, but it was difficult to enjoy them. Martinez pointed out a small Asplenium, called espincu, which has a sweet taste, and is sometimes chewed by the Indians for want of coca; and the panchi, a tall slender malvaceous tree, with large round leaves on spreading branches at the top, and very white wood. It is used by the Chunchos for procuring fire by friction, and the bark, which peels off in long strips, is serviceable for girdles. During this day we came to the largest Calisaya we had yet seen, and Martinez operated on the bark to show his dexterity as a cascarillero, which was remarkable.[336] Our collection only amounted to fourteen plants, among them two fine seedlings of C. Calisaya, two of C. micrantha, two of C. ovata, var. rufinervis, and the remainder root-shoots of C. Calisaya: seedlings of the latter species are exceedingly rare. We returned to our camp dead beat, and drenched to the skin, only to find that my Indians were mutinous, declaring that they had been away long enough, that they had no maize or coca left, and that they must return to their homes at once. Our only hope rested upon them, and, if they had deserted, all our plans would have been entirely frustrated. It, however, required no little persuasion and eloquence to induce them to change their minds, and, as they had nothing left to eat, I sent Andres Vilca back to Gironda, to entreat him to supply us with a few chuÑus and a little coca. I then told the others, in their own expressive language, that if they deserted me they were liars, thieves, traitors, and children of the Devil, whose punishment would soon overtake them; while if they were true to me they would be well rewarded, and would enjoy the friendship of a Viracocha. After this great effort in Quichua, the evening ended pleasantly. The Indians had built themselves a little shed of palm-leaves near the tent door, a bright fire was lighted, and its cheery reflection danced on the waves of the noisy flood.

It rained heavily through the night, and in the morning, hearing from Martinez that the varieties of C. ovata, the collection of which had been recommended to me by Dr. Weddell, were only found in a zone at a much greater elevation than that of the C. Calisayas, I devoted the day to a search in an almost vertical direction, on the north-east side of the Yana-mayu, towards some heights called Pacchani.

Ascending the steep sides of the ravine of Yana-mayu for about two hundred feet, we reached a narrow level shelf covered with ferns and the huge leaves of the sayal palm. The locality was very damp and shady, and the C. micrantha, HuiÑapu, and Cascarilla Carua were in great abundance. We continued to ascend through the forest which covered the sides of the steep mountain, for several hours continuously; the footing consisting of decayed leaves and rotten trunks, moss and ferns covering every tree, and all the vegetation intensely humid. At a height of 750 feet above the river we came to some trees of the beno-beno (Pimentelia gomphosia,[337] Wedd.), with its bright laurel-like leaves and minute capsules; the C. pubescens, called by Martinez cascarilla amarilla, still only in bud, which was very abundant; and large trees of the morada naranjada (C. ovata, var. a vulgaris, Wedd.). Near this place a troop of about twenty monkeys went chattering along the tops of the trees, and while I was looking at them a huge black hornet rushed up out of the moss and stung me on the chin. These savage creatures make their nests under the earth, and are called huancoyru.

After a long and wearisome but fruitless search for young plants of the zamba morada (the rufinervis variety of C. ovata) in these excessively damp forests, we began the descent again. Nothing struck me so much as the extraordinary variety of forms and shapes in which nature works in these tropical forests. One is amazed to see enormous trees with their gigantic roots separating at least twenty feet above the ground, and forming perfect Gothic arches. In one place a giant of the forest had grown on the edge of a ridge of rock, and the roots had combined with the stone to form a spacious vaulted cave large enough to hold ten men comfortably. Beautiful variegated leaves of ColocasiÆ, and a scarlet-flowered Justitia, with bright purple leaves, united with a profusion of ferns to ornament the opening, while some tree-ferns, and a chinilla, the most slender and elegant of the palms of the forest, guarded the entrance. Rays of the sun struggled through a network of bamboos on an opposite bank, and penetrated into the recesses of the cavern. While I gazed on this lovely scene, the plaintive mournful notes of the little "Alma perdida" reached me from the boughs of the great tree. This is a small bird of the finch tribe, of which there are two kinds, one black, the other chesnut with black wings. Their loud clear note is peculiarly sad. Such peeps as these into the secret beauties of the innermost forest recesses are rewards for many hours of toil and disappointment.

Late in the evening I returned to the tent dead tired, sodden and wet to the skin, covered with moss and fungus, bitten all over by mosquitos, stung by a hornet, and with hands sliced in pieces by the sharp blades of a Panicum called challi-challi, but with only three plants of the valuable variety of C. ovata. It is most provoking that only the seedlings of all the worthless species of ChinchonÆ should be in great abundance; the reason is of course connected with the general felling of the trees of valuable species by the cascarilleros, years ago.

There was little rain during the night, and on May 6th we commenced the search of a range of forest on the south-west side of the Yana-mayu ravine, where we found a large supply of plants of C. Calisaya. At a height of 500 feet above the river there was a ridge of rock jutting out from the forest-covered sides of the ravine. In this spot the ground was not nearly so thickly covered with vegetation; there were no palms, tree-ferns, or plants requiring extreme moisture, and young plants received shade from taller trees, while they also enjoyed plenty of sunshine through the spreading branches. The most abundant plants were Melastomas, huaturus, and Panica, which climb amongst the branches to a height of thirty feet and upwards. These afford but very slight shade, and below there is an undergrowth of ferns, ColocasiÆ, and young plants. In different parts of this ridge we collected 124 young C. Calisaya plants, most of them root-shoots, and a few seedlings. There were also two young trees bearing capsules. The C. Calisaya plants were all growing out of the moss which covered the rock to a thickness of eight inches or a foot, together with beautiful Hymenophylla,[338] but there was scarcely any soil. The roots spread along the face of the rock, which is a metamorphic clay slate, unfossiliferous, slightly micaceous, and ferruginous;[339] and is easily broken up into thin layers by the growth of the plants. In this situation the C. Calisayas were more numerous than in any other we have yet seen.

Two bears had made themselves a comfortable and very carefully prepared bed on the summit of the ridge, whence there was an extensive bird's-eye view of the windings of the river, and of the forest-covered mountains beyond. On the opposite mountains there were two or three long bare places—tremendous landslips, not unfrequent occurrences in the forest. There is a sudden crash, when masses of rock, huge trees, and underwood come rushing down in one fell irresistible swoop. A beautiful white Stephanotis was climbing over the rocks. We returned to the camp in a heavy fall of rain, after a very severe but successful day's work, and found that both the Indians and ourselves had come to the end of our provisions, and that Andres Vilca Lad not returned.

On May 7th we rose to find only a few bread-crumbs in the corner of our bag, and, as famine was thus knocking at the door, it became necessary to beat a hasty retreat. The plants were carefully packed in layers of moss, and sown up in two bundles of Russia matting, which we had brought with us, containing about 200 chinchona-plants. In the absence of Andres Vilca, Mr. Weir showed much zeal and energy in undertaking to carry one of these bundles, four and a half feet in circumference, over the slippery and dangerous road, in doing which he fell into the river.

On the morning of May 7th, when we commenced our retreat, it was pouring with rain, and the forest was saturated, our bodies sodden, our hands crumpled like washerwomen's, and our powder damp. We had to wade across many little streams falling into the Tambopata. The first, after leaving the Yana-mayu, was called Churu-bamba, because it empties itself just opposite an island (churu, in Quichua). The next stream was Uma-yuyu, uma being water in Aymara, and yuyu a plant with a large cordate dock-like leaf, used in chupes. Thus every little stream and hill had received a name from the cascarilleros of former times, from some peculiarity of position or other similar circumstance, which would easily impress it on the memory. What an improvement on the nomenclature in new countries discovered by Englishmen, where we have an endless succession of Jones's rivers, Smith's mountains, and Brown's islands! Near the banks of these streams there are very large snail-shells, and Martinez described the snails as "large kind of hornets, all made of flesh, which do not sting." He called them Mamachuru, or "Mother of the Island."

On reaching the precipice of Ccasa-sani we scrambled along its slippery sides, in the pouring rain, to collect plants of C. Calisaya, and obtained twenty-one good ones. They were growing in a similar situation to those above the Yana-mayu, in company with a number of Aceite de Maria trees (ElÆagia MariÆ),[340] and completely exposed to the sun, without any shade whatever. Passing the precipice, we continued our damp weary journey, Martinez pointing out everything that was noticeable by the way, especially the palo santo (Guaiacum sanctum), a very tall tree, the stem 60 to 70 feet high, without a branch, with a few short horizontally spreading branches at the summit, with pinnate leaves. When the bark is cut, a host of stinging ants come forth. There was also a plant, which he called achira silvestre (Canna achira?) with a rhizome, and bunches of rank red berries. We passed through groves of paccays (Mimosa Inga), a creeping legume with bright flowers, wild coca, many Lasionemas, with their large coarse leaves drooping over the river, and a melastomaceous plant with a crimson fruit. After having been nearly carried away by the force of the Challuma river, in wading across it, I reached Gironda's hospitable shed, after a journey of more than thirty miles, in pouring rain.

On May 8th I left Gironda's clearing, with Martinez, in order to examine the forests above the hut of Tambopata, for plants of C. Calisaya. Here, in almost exactly a similar ridge of rock to those which proved so prolific of these precious plants on the heights above the Yana-mayu, and on the precipice of Ccasa-sani, I found a number of plants of Calisaya morada (C. Boliviana, Wedd.), growing out of moss, amongst the rocks, with scarcely any soil. They were overshadowed by numerous trees, called by Martinez "Compadre[341] de Calisaya" (Gomphosia chlorantha, Wedd.), one of the most graceful and beautiful of the chinchonaceous plants, with deliciously sweet flowers. Dr. Weddell exactly describes it as rising without a branch above all the trees of the forest, and then spreading out in the form of a chandelier, and attracting the attention of the traveller from afar. The bark of this tree, with its transverse cracks, can with difficulty be distinguished from that of C. Calisaya. Whilst climbing amongst these rocks, I nearly put my hand on a small viper of a most venomous kind, 18 inches long, with a black skin marked with yellow rings, edged with white. In the evening we returned to Gironda's clearing at Lenco-huayccu, with eighty-seven chinchona-plants, sixteen of Calisaya fina (C. Calisaya, var. a vera), and sixty-nine of Calisaya morada (C. Boliviana, Wedd.).

We found Gironda, on whom we were now entirely dependent for food, very little better off than ourselves. His supplies consisted of maize, yucas, aracachas, chuÑus or frozen potatoes, and quispiÑas, made of boiled quinoa-grains dried in the sun, ground, and preserved as little gritty hard lumps. He also had some achocches, which are poor watery cucurbitaceous things, squeezed, and served up in chupes. No salt.

Though frequently baffled, and more than once exposed to much risk in making vain attempts, I had never given up my determination to have at least one day's work on the right bank of the Tambopata. For some days the volume of water had been gradually decreasing, but it was still 40 yards across, and rushing with great velocity over a ford which Gironda believed to exist a little below Lenco-huayccu. I stripped and went in, with the stem of a young chonta palm as a support, but, on approaching the mid-channel, the water came up above my middle, the large pebbles slipped and rolled under my feet, and for some time it was with the utmost difficulty that I held my own; but finally we all reached the right bank in safety.

We were rewarded by a very successful day's work. After ascending the steep ravine, through the zone of bamboos, to a height of 400 feet, we reached a ridge of rocks, where we collected 109 good chinchona-plants of the Calisaya morada species. The leaves of the chinchonÆ, and more especially the Calisaya species, are invariably perforated by holes in every direction. Much of this mischief is the work of caterpillars, but it may partly be attributed to the effects of drip from the trees which overshadow them. In this forest there were trees of great height, without a branch for a distance of 50 or 60 feet from the ground, which Martinez called canela. The inner bark had a strong taste of cinnamon, and they use it to scent and flavour their huarapu, or fermented juice of the sugar-cane. On many trees, in the forest, there are immense masses of earth fixed on the trunk, called cotocuro. They consist of exceedingly thin layers, one added to another until they are sometimes of an immense size, eight to ten feet high, and three or four feet across. They are made by myriads and myriads of small yellowish lice, which swarm between each thin layer.

In the evening we incurred the same risks in wading across the river again, but arrived without any accident at Gironda's clearing, where we now had a depÔt of 436 chinchona-plants.

On May 10th I resolved to make a search on the heights immediately above Lenco-huayccu, called Gloriapata, for the valuable red-nerved variety of C. ovata. I first paid a visit to the poor little Indian wife and children of Martinez at Huaccay-churu, in a hut of split bamboos, surrounded by aracachas, yucas, camotes with their white convolvulus flowers, plantains, frijoles or beans, and the Amaranthus caudatus, which they call jataccu and cuimi, using the leaves in chupes. We then struck right up the steep declivity of Gloriapata, making our way with difficulty through the dense bamboo thickets, which, in spite of their obstinate obstructiveness, make excellent cisterns, and their joints will always afford a good drink of cool water. For some time we followed a pathway made by a herd of peccaries, until it ended at the mouth of a cave which, though low, appeared to be of considerable size. These peccaries come down in herds of thirty or forty to the clearings, during the night, and do much damage amongst the roots. Some are black and white, and others of a leaden colour.

After ascending for several hundred feet we came to trees of C. pubescens, which appear to belong to a zone just below, but in contact with the C. ovatÆ. Their leaves were eaten by a caterpillar, red at both ends, with a horn, red stripe down the back, and red spots on each side, body striped green and yellow. Some hundred feet higher there were large trees of both varieties of C. ovata, growing in very moist parts of the forest, where the trees were covered with Hymenophylla and dripping moss, the former a sure sign of extreme humidity. The ground was covered with fallen leaves to a great depth, and there was a good deal of shade. We collected seven plants of C. ovata, var. a vulgaris, and eleven of C. ovata, var. rufinervis, five of which were strong healthy seedlings, the remainder being suckers, with spreading roots of their own. With the C. ovatÆ grows the Carhua-carhua chica (Cascarilla bullata, Wedd.).

In descending from these heights I came to a tree which Martinez called copal, but the trunk rose to such an extraordinary height, without branches, that I was unable to make out the appearance of the leaves or flowers. The bark was covered with a milk-white fragrant resin, of a nature analogous to gum thus or gum elemi. The forest also abounds in vegetable and bees' wax, and in many varieties of gums and resins.

On May 11th, as we had now collected a sufficient number of chinchona-plants, including those of the shrub Calisaya which we intended to take up on our return across the pajonales, to fill the Wardian cases at Islay, Mr. Weir began to make up the plants in layers, with plenty of moss between them, ready for sewing up in the Russia matting. Having heard that a young man, a nephew of Gironda's, had planted a C. Calisaya in a small clearing a few leagues up the ravine, I went to examine it. The clearing was on a steep declivity sloping down to the river, and had been partly planted with coffee and coca by its solitary occupant. The tree was a Calisaya morada, having been a root-shoot twelve inches high when it was planted in January, 1859. It is now seven feet high, six inches and four-tenths in circumference round the trunk, and three feet three inches across the longest branches from one side of the stem to the other. It was growing on the side of a steep hill, quite open to the south, east, and south-east, at the edge of a clearing, while mountains covered with forest rise up close behind it, on the north and west, to a great height. It is planted in a soil consisting of stiff yellowish loam, composed of vegetable matter, mixed with the disintegration of the soft clay slate. This is probably the only cultivated chinchona-tree in Peru. In returning to Lenco-huayccu I saw a flock of Alectors, large birds analogous to turkeys, and many parrots; and on my arrival I found that Mr. Weir had already made up the chinchona-plants, in four Russia-matting bundles, ready to start for Sandia on the following morning.