THE MONTANA OF PERU. 97 



the Maranon, which is destined hereafter to be the 

 channel for direct water - communication between 

 Eastern Peru and the Atlantic coast. At present the 

 only obstacle to communication is the fact that the 

 country near the river is occupied by a tribe of fierce 

 and hostile Indians, who allow no passage through 

 their country. The climate was described by our 

 informant as quite delightful and salubrious, the soil 

 as most fertile, suitable for almost all tropical produce, 

 and many of the plants of temperate regions, and the 

 supposed inconveniences as unimportant. Jaguars 

 are, indeed, common, but the chief objection to them 

 is that they make it difficult to keep poultry. Poisonous 

 snakes exist, but the prejudice against them is un- 

 reasonably strong. No case of any one dying from 

 snake-bite had occurred at our informant's location. 



One drawback he did, indeed, freely admit. There 

 was scarcely any limit to be set to the productive 

 capabilities of the country, but, beyond what could 

 serve for personal consumption, it was hard to say 

 what could be done with the crops. He was then 

 engaged in trying the possibility of transporting some 

 of the more valuable produce of his farming to Lima. 

 The journey had been one of extreme difficulty. In 

 some of the valleys heavy rains had washed away 

 tracks and carried away bridges, and he had been 

 driven back to seek a passage by some other route. 

 About one-half of his train of mules with their loads 

 had been carried away by torrents, or otherwise lost ; 

 but our buoyant countryman, now virtually arrived at 

 his journey's end, seemed to think the experiment a 

 fairly successful one. He had received no news from 



H 



