274 BENEATH THE FOEEST. 



with occasional specimens of fishes from the Misagualli. 

 Being desirous of obtaining all the representatives pos- 

 sible of the latter, we would reward them with a medio 

 (a Spanish coin worth five cents) for each specimen. On 

 one occasion two little fellows came to us, one with the head 

 and the other with the tail of a fish which they had neatly- 

 halved. The head being presented first, the manager of 

 the department of ichthyology was rejoicing over a ncAV 

 species, for never before had he seen an ichthyological 

 specimen end so abruptly ; but, with the tail being handed 

 in, by the other youngster, the relations of the two be- 

 came apparent. 



While here, we determined upon taking a photograph- 

 ic view of Archidonians. This was attended with some 

 difficulty. These natives were not all as willing to be 

 " taken " as the groups about the Congress of Saratoga. 

 The whole population, men, women, and children — ^the 

 women each with two babies, one slung before and the 

 other behind — were assembled and drawn up in a semi- 

 circle upon the plaza in front of the little church. The 

 men enjoyed it ; but to the women the camera was clothed 

 with terrors, they thinking it an escopcta (gim) ; and, as 

 soon as the operator took position behind the instrument, 

 they broke in a run for their huts. The good padres suc- 

 ceeded, after much persuasion, in again forming them in 

 line — but again they broke. At length they were induced 

 to stand within range sufficiently long for a hazy view. ■- 



November 17th, w^ith a train of Archidonian Indians, 

 our others having returned to Papallacta, we again re- 

 sumed our journey to the Napo. A few miles from Archi- 

 dona we forded the Misagualli, and about noon the broad 

 and rapid Tena, upon whose banks was a little Indian vil- 

 lage, bearing the name of the river. We were now at the 

 foot of the Andes, and the vegetation assumed a more 

 tropical character than that of the higher slopes. Stately 



