82 NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP. 



projecting roof of the house, or anywhere in the 

 shade, turning a wheel with one hand ; and as he 

 turns he gaily sings, or now and then munches at 

 a truncheon of inguire (boiled green plantain) he 

 holds in his other hand. An upright piece attached 

 to the frame of the wheel carries one or several 

 spindles, and from each spindle a woman spins 

 away in a right line, all she has to do being to draw 

 out the cotton (which she carries in little rolls in 

 her girdle) to a uniform thickness. Here and there 

 forked sticks, 6 or 7 feet long, are stuck up, over 

 which the lengthening thread is passed, so that 

 pigs and other animals running about may not get 

 entangled in it. The work of spinning begins at 

 daybreak, and as the morning mist rolls away 

 hundreds of spinners are to be seen on the pampa 

 each crowned with her gay montera drawing 

 out their long gossamer lines. As the sun rises 

 higher, and even the broad montera cannot wholly 

 shade the spinner's face from the intense heat of his 

 rays, the task is laid aside, to be resumed towards 

 evening, and sometimes, when there is a bright 

 moon, continued till a late hour. 



Cotton-spinning is the principal industry of the 

 women of Tarapoto. The thread is remarkably 

 strong, and is woven by the men into a coarse cloth 

 called " tocuyo," which used formerly to be much 

 exported to Brazil ; but latterly English and 

 American unbleached cottons (called " tocuyo 

 Inglez") have come hither so cheap that the 

 native manufacture has greatly fallen off. 



