Preparations foe the Napo Journey. 175 



and on the river we lielped ourselves to a little wild game, 

 as fisli, peceari, deer, and turtles' eggs. But these made 

 only a drop in the commissary bucket ; had we depended 

 upon finding pro^^sions on the road, we must have perished 

 from sheer hunger. Game, in the dry season, is exceed- 

 ingly scarce. Oiir provisions were packed in kerosene cans, 

 a part of which were soldered up to keep out moisture (for 

 the Valley of the Napo is a steaniing vapor-bath) and to 

 keep out the hands of Indians. More than once have these 

 treacherous yet indispensable guides robbed the white man 

 of his food, and then left him to his fate ; we lost not a 

 pound by theft. A four-gallon keg of aguardiente,* from 

 which we dealt out half a gill daily to each man, kept our 

 Indians in good humor. 



As we must ascend to the cold altitude of fifteen thou- 

 sand feet, and then descend to the hot Valley of the Ama- 

 zon, we were obliged to carry both woolen and cotton gar- 

 ments, besides rubbei- ponchos to shield them from the i-ain 

 by day, and to form the first substratum of our bed at 

 night. Two suits were needed in our long travel afoot 

 through the forest ; one kept dry for the nightly bivouac, 

 the other for day service. At the close of each day's jour- 

 ney we doffed every thread of our wearing apparel, and 

 donned the reserved suit, for we were daily drenched either 

 from the heavens above or by crossing swollen rivers and 

 seas of mud. Then, too, as boots would not answer for 

 such kind of travel, we must take cdpargates, a native san- 

 dal made of the aloe fibre, and of these not a few, for a 

 pair would hardly hold together two days. Two bales of 

 lienzo, besides knives, fish-hooks, thread, beads, looking- 

 glasses, and other trinkets, were also needed ; for the Napo 



* This is the rum of the Andes, corresponding to the cashaga of Brazil. 

 It is distilled from sugar-cane. When double-distilled and flavored with anise, 

 it is called anisado. 



