186 The Ajsides and the Amazon. 



to the Coca. The ups and downs of this day's travel of 

 twelve miles were foreshadowings of what might come in 

 our "views afoot" in South America. We encamped at 

 a spot the Indians called Maspa. Herndon says : " The 

 (Peruvian) Indians take no account of time or distance ; 

 they stop when they get tired, and arrive when God 

 pleases."* But our Napo companions measured distance 

 by hours quite accurately, and they always traveled as far 

 as we were willing to follow. In ten minutes they built 

 us a booth for the night; driving two crotchets into the 

 ground, they joined them with a ridge-pole, against which 

 they inclined a number of sticks for rafters. These they 

 covered with palm-leaves, so adroitly put together that our 

 roof was generally rain-proof. After ablution and an en- 

 tire change of garments, we built a fire, using for fuel a 

 green tree called sindloaspi (meaning the wood that burns), 

 a special provision in these damp forests where every thing 

 is dripping with moisture. The fall of a full-grown tree 

 under tlie strokes of a Yankee axe was a marvel in the 

 eyes of our Indians. Our second day's journey was far 

 more difficult than the first, the path winding up steep 

 mountains and down into grand ravines, for we were cross- 

 ing the outlying spurs of the Eastern Cordillera. Every 

 where the track was slippery with mud, and often we sank 

 two feet into the mire. How devoutly we did wish that 

 the Ecuadorian Congress was compelled to travel this hor- 

 rid road once a year ! At 10 o'clock we reached a lone 

 habitation called Guila, where wooden bowls are made for 

 the Quito market. Here we procured a fresh Indian to 

 take the place of one of our peons who had given out un- 

 der his burden. We advanced this day sixteen miles in 

 ten hours, sleeping under an old bamboo hut beside a bab- 

 bling brook bearing the euphonious name of Pachamama. 



* " Distance is frequently estimated by the time that a man will occupy in 

 taking a chew of coca," or 37i minutes. — Herndon. 



