86 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 



mountains I have yet seen ; but here, where not 

 even spade or pickaxe are used, much less has it 

 ever been attempted to move a rock by gunpowder, 

 what can be expected ? All that is generally done 

 is to clear away the forest with axe and cutlass, and 

 that often imperfectly, stumps of trees being often 

 left some inches above the ground, while the 

 branches and twiners overhead are cut away only 

 to such a height as may be reached by an Indian, 

 so that a tall horseman has to look out continually 

 to save his head from entanglement. Rarely is any 

 attempt made to level the road with a rude hoe, and 

 the tropical rains are left to smooth or furrow it 

 according to the locality. In steep hollow ascents 

 logs are sometimes laid across, against which sand 

 accumulates with the rains, and thus'a sort of stair 

 is formed. The idea of a cutting along the face of 

 a declivity, or even the rudest bridge over the 

 streams, never occurs to any one. No one is 

 charged with the repair of the highways, and it is 

 only once a year that the inhabitants of the pueblos 

 clear the portions allotted to them, cutting away the 

 brush that has accumulated. When a tree has fallen 

 across the track, those who next pass that way make 

 a fresh track through the forest around the fallen 

 mass as best they may, for they rarely carry with 

 them axes, or have time to spend an hour or two 

 in clearing the road. Those who follow enlarge the 

 track with their cutlasses, and thus one is continually 

 coming on narrow and difficult turns. 



The principal road in Maynas is that leading 

 from Tarapoto to Moyobamba,. and thence to 

 Chachapoyas. As far as Moyobamba it is just 

 practicable for horsemen, who, however, have to 



