DOWN THE rjVEK. 283 



We experienced considerable difficulty in persuading 

 the Indians to break off their feast for a trip to the Mara- 

 fion ; but at length succeeded in obtaining a sufficient num- 

 ber to man three canoes, which were to take us as far as 

 Santa Rosa, a little village eighty miles below Napo, where 

 we might obtain canoes and Indians to convey vis to the 

 mouth of the river. 



Upon the morning of the 20th of December we em- 

 barked, and were borne swiftly down by the strong cur- 

 rent, which sometimes became dangerous rapids, over 

 Avhich our little canoes would shoot with fearful velocity, 

 our Indian paddlers dexterously avoiding projecting rocks 

 and breakers. The recollection of the fact that a party 

 in descending these same rapids, a few years previous, had 

 been wrecked, and lost every thing, Avas far from a com- 

 forting thought, as our canoes went plunging down be- 

 tween the rocks, or, as caught in a little eddy, they would 

 tremble for a moment as poising for another leap, and rush 

 through the foaming sluices. The appearance of our 

 naked Indians, their long hair streaming in the wind, and 

 then- wild shouts mingling with the roar of the waters, 

 with the rolling of our little bark, rendered the shooting 

 of these rapids unique as well as exciting navigation. 

 Passing safely all these rapids, toward evening we reached 

 the old site of Santa Rosa, which had been abandoned on 

 account of its unhealthfulness, the Indians believing that 

 it had been cursed by the padres. Drawing our boats 

 ashore, we landed. It was sad to see the little huts of 

 the deserted village, almost lost in the rank vegetation 

 that had sprung up around them, with no traces of their 

 former occupants ; none to gather the falling fruit of the 

 scattered orange-trees, but all silent and desolate. As the 

 gloom of the approaching night settled over the deserted 

 spot, our Indians motioned us to the canoes, unlashed 

 and quickly pushed them from the bank into the strong 



