278 PLATEAU OF CAXAMARCA. 



courier/' " el correo que nada," as lie is called in the country, 

 is employed. This post messenger, who is usually a young 

 Indian, swims in two days from Pomahuaca to Toinependa, 

 first by the Rio de Chamaya (the name given to the lower 

 part of the Eio de Guancabamba), and then by the Amazons. 

 He carefully places the few letters entrusted to him in a 

 large cotton handkerchief, which he winds round his head 

 in the manner of a turban. When he comes to waterfalls 

 he leaves the river, and makes a circuit through the woods. 

 In order to lessen the fatigue of swimming for so long a 

 time, he sometimes throws one arm round a piece of a very 

 light kind of wood (Ceiba, Palo de balsa), of a tree be- 

 longing to the family of Bombacea3. Sometimes also a 

 friend goes with him to bear him company. The pair have 

 no concern about provisions, as they are always sure of a 

 hospitable reception in any of the scattered huts, which are 

 abundantly surrounded with fruit trees, in the beautiful 

 Huertas de Pucara and Cavico. 



Happily the river is free from crocodiles, which, in the 

 upper part of the Amazons, are first met with below the 

 cataracts of Mayasi. These unwieldy and slothful monsters 

 generally prefer the more tranquil waters. According to 

 my measurements the Rio de Chamaya, from the Ford (Paso) 

 de Pucara to the place where it enters the Amazons Eiver 

 below the village of Choros, has a fall (9) of 1668 (1778 

 English) feet in the short space of 52 English geographical 

 miles. The Governor of the province of Jaen de Bracamo- 

 ros assured me that letters carried by this singular water- 

 post were rarely either wetted or lost. Soon after my return 



