402 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I02 



other streams which have emptied into it ; they have built a rope 

 bridge over it, using reeds hke withes ; weaving quantities of them 

 together, they make two stout cables of the thickness of a man's 

 thigh and a little longer than the width of the river. At a suitable and 

 proper spot along the river they tie them fast on the one side to 

 large trees or rocks, and then they adjust and fasten them on the 

 other side until the cables [of reeds or withes] are taut. On these 

 they build the bridge of many poles and reeds tied tight together 

 like hurdles or wattlework ; they put two other cables a vara higher 

 than the first, which serve as railing ; and they take many poles and 

 plait them together between the upper and lower cables, acting as 

 sides of a corridor, so that persons crossing will be safe. That is 

 the nature of the rope bridges ; when people pass over them they 

 shake a lot, but they are very secure. The Indians have many other 

 kinds of bridges [and methods] for crossing streams, which will be 

 described in their proper places ; bridges like ours, with arches and 

 cement, they never achieved, nor did they have them. Let this 

 account suffice for the Corregimiento of Cajamarca, adding that the 

 Incas had many storehouses on the highest points of most of those 

 ridges which overlook the valley around the town ; today they remain 

 there unchanged ; they used to store in them corn, potatoes, and 

 other food for their armies and the relief of the poor. There are 

 some silver mines in this district, like those of San Cristobal and 

 others, and cattle and hog ranches. All the deer and llamas have 

 bezoar stones in their stomachs. 



1188. The eastern boundary of the Corregimiento of Cajamarca 

 reaches the mighty Rio de Las Balsas ; it runs for almost 20 leagues 

 between very lofty sierras, deep down below them ; even when it 

 is cold up on the uplands, it is very hot down there. They cross this 

 river on rafts made of several logs, usually made of the tree called 

 papaya (papaw), which is abundant on the banks of this rushing 

 river. To cross it, the Indian men and women carry under their arms 

 or on their shoulders one of these light raft logs ; they put it in the 

 water and either hang on to it or bestride it, and in this way they 

 get across the river very safely. When I saw tiny Indian girls doing 

 this I was astounded, and I was glad I had seen it, being now 

 instructed for any similar need, and profiting by it on other occasions, 

 when I had to cross rivers. The above is a very ample jurisdiction 

 for the Diocese of Trujillo, and as for the rest, there might well be 

 another created, as has been requested for many years by the city 

 of Chachapoyas for itself and its provinces for their spiritual needs ; 

 they suffer through being so remote that no Bishop comes for visits 



