420 PLATEAU OF CAXAMARCA. 



from the sycnitic rocks of Zaulaca to the Valley of San Felipe (rich 

 in fossils, and situated at the foot of the icy Paramo de Yamoca), 

 we were obliged to wade through the Rio de Gruancabamba (which 

 flows into the Amazons) no less than twenty-seven times, on account 

 of the windings of the stream ; while we continually saw near us, 

 running in a straight line along the side of a steep precipice, the 

 remains of the high-built road of the Incas with its Tambos. The 

 mountain torrent, though only from 120 to 150 English feet broad, 

 was so strong and rapid that, in fording it, our heavily laden mules 

 were often in danger of being swept away by the flood. They car- 

 ried our manuscripts, our dried plants, and all that we had been 

 collecting for a year past. Under such circumstances, one watches 

 from the other side of the stream with very anxious suspense until 

 the long train of eighteen or twenty beasts of burden has passed in 

 safety. 



The same Rio de Gruancabamba, in the lower part of its course, 

 where it has many falls and rapids, is made to serve in a very singu- 

 lar manner for the conveyance of correspondence with the coast of 

 the Pacific. In order to expedite more quickly the few letters from 

 Truxillo which are intended for the province of Jaen de Bracainoros,- 

 a "swimming courier," "el correo que nada," as he is called in the 

 country, is employed. This post messenger, who is usually a young 

 Indian, swims in two days from Pornahuaca to Tomependa, first by 

 the Rio de Chamaya (the name given to the lower part of the Rio 

 de Gruancabamba), and then by the Amazons. He carefully places 

 the few letters entrusted to him in a large cotton handkerchief, which 

 he winds round his head in the manner of a turban. When he 

 comes to waterfalls, he leaves the river, and makes a circuit through 

 the woods. In order to lessen the fatigue of swimming for so long 

 a time, he sometimes throws one arm round a piece of a. very light 

 kind of wood (Ceiba, Palo de balsa), of a tree belonging to the fa- 

 mily of BombaceaB. Sometimes also a friend goes with him to bear 

 him company. The pair have no concern about provisions, as they 

 are always sure of a hospitable reception in any of the scattered 

 huts, which are abundantly surrounded with fruit trees, in the beau- 

 tiful Huertas de Pucara and Cavico. 



Happily, the river is free from crocodiles, which, in the upper part 



