CHAPTER XX. 



CAXOE-VOYAGE DOWN TIIE_ KIO NAPO. 



Napo Valley. — An Island-home. — Bees. — Indian Tribes. — Their Lan- 

 guage. — Down the Eiver. — Shooting Kapids. — Santa Eosa. — xVu Indif- 

 ferent Crew. — Coco Village. — Our " Zaparo." — Last View of the 

 Andes. — Birds upon the Napo. — Toucans. — Hummers. — Turtles' 

 Eggs. — Sancudos. — Camp vipon a Playa. — Our Indians. — Tropical 

 Vegetation. — View of the Maranon. 



Near the point where wc emerged from the forest is 

 located the Indian village of Napo, compi'ising about 

 thirty straggling Inxts, It stands at the head of canoe- 

 navigation upon the Rio Napo, six hundred miles from its 

 confluence with the Maranon, as the upper portion of the 

 Amazons is called. In front of the town the current of 

 the river, as we have remarked, is smooth, but a short dis- 

 tance above and below it breaks, in formidable rapids, 

 over sandstone ledges. 



A short hour's walk from the village, upon a little 

 island formed by the Yusupino, a small affluent of the 

 Napo, we found an American, Mr. George Edwards, who 

 had lived here, almost isolated from the world, for four- 

 teen years. We shall long remember our visit to his 

 little island-home, and the hearty welcome received. It 

 was, indeed, a miniature paradise, such as we scarcely ex- 

 pected to find in the depths of these wild forests. It 

 could be reached only by fording an arm of the river. 



