29G Tili: UrPEE AMAZONS. 



gcrous upon tbc Amazons than upon tlie Kapo ; wc were 

 in constant danger from tlie sudden squalls which swept up 

 the river from the east. For greater safety, we kept close to 

 the hanks, that we might more quickly run the " Zaparo" 

 into some sheltered spot, upon the approach of a storm. In 

 many places the banks were lined with fallen trees, mark- 

 ing the encroachment of the river upon the forest. Swiftly 

 we were borne down the Amazons, and upon the second 

 day from the mouth of the Kio ISTapo we reached Pebas, 

 a little Indian village located upon a high bluff on the 

 left bank of the Ambiyacu, a small stream liowing into the 

 Amazons from the north. We here met Mr. Hauxwell, 

 an English natiiralist, who was making this place his tem- 

 porary home while engaged in securing collections. Here 

 we delayed several days, awaiting the arrival of the steamer 

 from the upper Peruvian waters. The town of Pebas is 

 rendered healthful by its elevated position, which gives 

 it the influence of the easterly trade-^Yinds. Tlie popula- 

 tion is made up of Orejones and Yagua Indians, who, for 

 the greater portion of the time, are scattered in the forest, 

 upon the banks of the little streams and lagoons, engaged 

 in fishing and hunting, as the immediate vicinity of the 

 village afibrds insuflicient game. These Pebas Indians wo 

 found the most abject and indolent of any that it was our 

 misfortune to be dependent upon cast of the Andes. As 

 far as we could ascertain, they seem to have no idea of a 

 Good Spirit ; yet they entertain vague conceptions of an 

 Evil Spirit, that is the source of all ill-success in their war 

 and hunting excursions. The Yaguas, upon the death of 

 any member of their tribe, bury the deceased in his own 

 hut, which is then deserted, and all his other possessions 

 destroyed. 



Here we found, interstratified v.'ith the clay of the 

 bluff upon which Pebas is situated, a stratum of ma- 



