CHAP. XVI 



RESIDENCE AT TARAPOTO 



57 



delicately outlined by Spruce and the shading added 

 by Mr. Young under my directions. A. R. W.] 



The river Mayo a broad, shallow stream, 

 whose sources are in the summits of the Eastern 

 Cordillera runs half round the base of the hill of 

 Lamas, first from north to south, then eastward to 

 unite with the Huallaga. 



The inhabitants of Lamas are a mixed race, 

 descended partly from Spanish colonists, partly 

 from the ancient Indian inhabitants, of the tribe 

 of Motilones or Shaven Crowns ; so called by the 

 first Europeans who visited them from their custom 

 of cutting off the hair close to the head, with the 

 exception of a fringe left hanging in front to the 

 level of the eyebrows. The custom is still common 

 among the Indians and half- Indians throughout 

 that region ; but nowadays the barber's tools are 

 scissors anciently they were sharp-edged mussel- 

 shells. In 1541, only a few years after the con- 

 quest of Peru, Felipe de litre (or Von Huten) set 

 out from Coro in Venezuela, in quest of El Dorado 

 and the Omaguas, and after travelling southwards 

 ten years, reached the province of the Motilones in 

 Peru, by way of a large river that flows thence to 

 the Amazon. That large river we now know to 

 be the Huallaga. Some years later (in 1560) the 

 famous expedition headed by Pedro de Ursua, and 

 numbering many hundred men, reached Lamas, 

 described as a small village of Motilones, on the 

 banks of the river Moyobamba, where he delayed 

 to build vessels for navigating the Amazon, 

 his train was the infamous Lope de Aguirre, whose 

 name synonymous with "traitor 1 throughout 

 that region is still given to one of the malos 



