THE "MOKONA." 3C3 



dried meat, hides, |)irarucu-lis]i, turtles, turtle-oil, copaiba, 

 and guarana. 



The " Moroiia," which took us aboard at Pebas, was a 

 swift iron steamer, especially adapted for navigating the 

 rapid Peruvian waters. At nearly twenty miles an hour 

 she dashes down the river, her engine driving the more 

 strongly when the current strengthens, in order to render 

 her control by the helm possible. Captain Paygado was 

 acquainting himself with the intricacies of English, while 

 his associates, who were Englishmen, were returning the 

 compliment by familiarizing themselves with Spanish ; 

 the cook was from the Celestial Empire; consequently 

 tliere was a babel of languages upon the " Morona." Three 

 hours from Pebas brought us to Maucallacta, a small In- 

 dian village, where we anchored for the night, and took in 

 wood. Upon the first introduction of steamers on the 

 Amazons, these Indians, as might be imagined, were fear- 

 fully alarmed. They had been sufficiently long under the 

 instruction of the padres, to have fire and smoke vaguely 

 associated in their minds with that region v/hich it would 

 be desirable to avoid. So, when the steamer came plough- 

 ing up the river, puffing out columns of black smoke, and 

 occasionally giving a terrible scream, they very naturally 

 supposed that the agent of tlie Evil One had come for 

 them;' and, when "the devil's boat" — which their distort- 

 ed imagination pictured the monster to be — approached 

 their towns, they took to the forest, and not until con- 

 vinced that the thing couldn't run on land, did they be- 

 come reconciled to what seemed to them an infernal con- 

 trivance. 



From Maucallacta we dropped down to Caballochoclia, 

 where we passed the night of the l7th, and the next morn- 

 ing steamed down to Loreto, the last Peruvian tOAvn met 

 in descending the Maraiion. It is located upon a bluff, 

 and, with its church and the whitewashed walls of its 



