TOPOGRAPHY OF PEEU. 



341 



At the confluence of the Maraiïon and Ucayali, the two main head branches 

 of the Amazons, the village of Nauta is perched on a cliff which rises some 

 34 feet above low-water level. Founded in 1S30 on the site of an old mission, 

 this little group of straw huts is inhabited by the Cocaraas Indians and a few 

 half-breeds ; it is far from possessing the importance to which its geographical 



Fig. 133. — LoEETO, Amazons-Yavaei Confluence. 

 Scale 1 : 750,000. 



70"50- 



V/est o| ureenwicin 



18 Miles. 



position would seem to entitle it ; but it has lost all its trade by a shifting of the 

 channel and the formation of broad alluvial banks. 



At long intervals along the margin of the great river follow other ports, 

 such as Omrtguas, so named from a colony of magna Indians, who have since 

 been replaced by numerous half-breeds of diverse origin ; Iquitos, which was 

 founded in 1862, and rapidly developed a considerable trade, and at present 

 metropolis of the Amazonian Montana ; Oran, situated below the Napo confluence ; 

 Pehas, Cochaquines, both at first exclusively Indian missions ; Sancudo, and lastly, 

 Cahallo-cocha, which till recently was an obscure village, but is now growing 

 at the expense of Loreto, an ancient settlement inhabited by a few Ticuna Indians, 

 skilled in the preparation of the curare poison. 



