Prices in Moyobamba, 391 



cents a pound; and iron, of which 500 pounds are sold 

 yearly, sells from 20 to 40 cents a pound. Yet many for- 

 eign articles are sold cheaper at Moyobamba than on the 

 Pacific coast. Beef (jerked and dried) comes from Cha- 

 chapoyas, and is sold for 10 cents ; cattle are kept in the 

 surrounding chdcaras, but neither for beef nor milk, but 

 for the pleasure of owning them. A few sheep are raised, 

 but solely for meat, not for wool. Cattle, pigs, and dogs 

 are never fed, but are left to lielp themselves. Of home 

 productions, pork is worth 20 cents ; lard, 30 cents ; coffee, 

 $2 an arroba; tiles, $50 a thousand; brown sugar {chan- 

 cdca), 5 cents, refined, 25 cents. There is not a plow in the 

 whole province ; but almost every thing that is planted 

 yields bountifully in from three to six months. August is 

 the usual time for planting. Coffee, cacao, rice, maize, 

 mani (pea-nuts), oranges, pine -apples, bananas, sugar-cane, 

 and two kinds of cotton are grown with little or no cult- 

 ure, but only for home consumption. Grapes (a small 

 black kind), sarsaparilla, vanilla, rubber, and copal grow 

 spontaneously, but are not gathered. Abundance of fine 

 timber (especially cedar and "moyna") covers the slopes 

 of the cer]-os, with plenty of water-power at hand ; but 

 there is neither a saw-mill nor a chimney west of Iquitos. 

 The Moyobambinos,9000 in number, white, red, and mixed, 

 are content to dwell in mud hovels, tiled or thatched. Poor 

 and proud, they certainly do not believe that money makes 

 the man. " It is only in Spanish America," says Morelet, 

 "that men are to be found so rich in their poverty as to 

 be above the knowledge of want." Boards are cut out 

 with Collins's axes, 10,000 of which are sold annually ; the 

 only fault found with them (by the merchants) is that they 

 are too good, and last too long. The value of a . day's 

 work, from six to six, is 20 cents and food, or $5 a month. 

 There are seven foreign merchants in Moyobamba, of 



