388 The Andes and the Amazons. 



does it not rain here ?) the Indians tariy on the bank till 

 the waters subside. 



Then, for a change, the path, leaviiig the rivers for a 

 while, runs np the vertical side of the lofty Cerro de Icii- 

 to, where it is necessary to go monkey-fashion, holding on 

 with hands as well as feet. Now there are slippery, jut- 

 ting edges of the rock, supposed to be steps ; then a ladder 

 of sticks tied with vines leaning against the precipice. It 

 is painful to see the poor Indian, with a heavy load on his 

 back, going up this crazy thing : the breaking of one step 

 might cost him his life. Finally, the bad, the worse, and 

 the worst follow one another so rapidly that one gets a 

 little accustomed to it ; at any rate, he looks for nothing 

 better, and resigns himself to the situation. Af tei seeing 

 so many freaks in this anomalous road, the wayfarer rather 

 expects it to end by running up a tree. It is difficult to 

 conceive how such a path, daily iised for the traffic of the 

 great city of Moyobamba, can be tolerated. On the great- 

 er part, man has done nothing but select a route that has 

 the fewest obstacles. I could not see that a single stone 

 had been removed ; the Indians travel around or over ev- 

 ery thing in their wa}'.. 



Yet this road is the paradise of the botanist and ento- 

 mologist. I never saw such a variety of ferns and grass- 

 hoppers. In a small collection of orthopters, hastily gath- 

 ered, Mr. Scudder found eight new genera and thirty-four 

 new species.* The geologist also tinds employment, for 

 he passes by the salt-quarries of Cachi-puerto, in the red- 

 sandstone flank of Iciito, while the streams bring dowii 

 from a higher source fragments of cretaceous limestone, 

 containing ammonites and brachiopods. 



After passing the summit of the Punta de Schalca, the 

 grand troubles are at an end. This ridge divides the Ca- 



* Described in Proc. Boston Soc. Nat, Hist., vol. xvii., p. 257. 



