190 The Andes and the Amazon. 



a magnitude that the little bridge was carried off. Had we 

 been one day later, we might have waited a week on the 

 other side of the imj)assable gulf. Between this point 

 where we forded and Chiniplaya, fifteen miles below, the 

 barometer indicated a fall of five hundred feet. The roar 

 of the rushing waters is like that of the sea. In the beau- 

 tiful language of Darwin {Journal^ p. 316) : " The sound 

 spoke eloquently to the geologist ; the thousands and thou- 

 sands of stones, which, striking against each other, made 

 the one dull, uniform sound, were all hurrying in one di- 

 rection. It was like thinking on time, when the minute 

 that now glides past is irrecoverable So was it with these 

 stones. The ocean is their eternity, and each note of that 

 wild music told of one more step toward their destiny." 



On account of the heavy rain and the sickness of a peon, 

 whom finally we were obliged to leave behind, we rested 

 one day ; but on the morrow we traveled fourteen miles, 

 crossing the lofty Guacamayo ridge,^ fording at much risk 

 the deep Cochachimbamba, and camping at a spot (the In- 

 dians have a name for almost any locality in the forest) 

 called Guayusapugaru. The next day we must have ad- 

 vanced twenty miles, besides crossing the furious Hondachi. 

 This river was very much swollen by the rains, and it was 

 only by the aid of a rope that we made the jDassage. One 

 stout Indian was carried down stream, but soon recovered 

 himself. 



As we had lowered our altitude since leaving Papallacta 

 seven thousand feet, the climate was much warmer, and 

 vegetation more prolific. Nowhere else between the Andes 

 and the Atlantic did we notice such a majestic forest. The 

 tree-ferns, ennobled by the tropical sun and soil, have a 



* Humboldt speaks of this as an active volcano, "from which detonation.-< 

 are heard almost daily. " We heard nothing. It is possible that he meant 

 Guamani. 



