Our Baggage Train. 183 



to this passage along the equatorial line, and especially in 

 the line of history. Who has not heard of Gonzalo Pizar- 

 ro and his fatal yet famous expedition into " the land of 

 cinnamon ?" How he was led farther and farther into the 

 wilderness by the glittering illusions of an El Dorado,* till 

 the faithless Orellana, deserting him, floated down the 

 IS'apo and made the magniflcent discovery of the mighty 

 Amazon. Gonzalo, " who was held to be the best lancer 

 that ever went to these countries — and all confess that he 

 never showed his back to the enemy" — returned to Quito 

 with a few survivors to tell a tale of almost unparalleled 

 suffering. A century elapsed (1539-1637) before any one 

 ascended from Para to Quito by way of the Rio Napo; 

 this was accomplished by Pedro Teixeira. 



An Indian will carry three arrobas (seventy-five pounds) 

 besides his own provisions, his provisions for the journey 

 consisting of about twenty-five pounds of roasted corn and 

 barley-meal. The trunk or bundle is bound to his back 

 by withes, which pass across the forehead and chest; a 

 poncho or a handful of leaves protects the bare back from 

 chafing. All our luggage (amounting to nearly fifteen 

 hundred pounds) was divided and packed to suit this 

 method of transportation, so that we required twenty In- 

 dians. So many, however, of the right kind — for they must 

 be athletic young men to endure the fatigues of such a 

 journey — could not be furnished by the little village of Pa- 

 pallacta, so we were obliged to wait a few days till more 

 Indians could be summoned from a neialiborins: town. 

 When these arrived, the little world of Papallacta, men, 

 women, and children, assembled in front of the governor's 

 house, while Don Carlos sat by our side on a raised seat by 



* The king of this fabulous land was said to wear a magnificent attire fra- 

 grant with a costly gum, and sprinkled Avith gold dust. His palace was of 

 porphyry and alabaster, and his throne of ivory. 



