loS NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP. 



forest and not reaching the river margin as on the 

 Maranon), it has been necessary to go ashore 

 ourselves first with our firearms. 



A little before sunset we reached the upper point 



of an island, clad with a willow-like Composite, and 



rapidly becoming covered with water. Here we 



made fast, intending to pass the night, but shortly 



the Indians took alarm at seeing how easily an 



enemy could approach our encampment concealed 



by bushes which, although growing pretty close, 



admitted an easy passage ; so we moved off to the 



middle of the river, here very broad and shallow, 



with several prostrate dead trees sticking out which 



the rising waters had not yet liberated, though they 



were beginning to move them. I was not sorry for 



the change, for zancudos were very numerous and 



fierce on the island, though not entirely wanting 



on the river. The nocturnal zancudo is a small 



slender gnat with spotted wings rest of body a 



uniform black. It is called birotillo (the little dart) 



because its puncture is so cruel, often leaving pain 



and swelling. When the days are dull we have 



them in the canoes at all hours, and the small 



mosquitoes are as abundant as on the Maranon. 



My skin has been in a very sensitive state since 



the journey from Tarapoto to Chasuta, and some 



of the mosquito wounds are beginning to ulcerate. 



In the woods I have made acquaintance with a 



minute and very active tick, which sucks a little 



here and there, and does not, like the other species, 



hang on to one place till it gets full ; its bites 



cause an intolerable itching, and if one scratches, 



ulcers ensue. 



April 12- Don Victoriano's dog, which had 



