38 THE ANDES OF SOUTHERN PERU 



iiess. Accidents are frequent among them owing to the careless 

 use of fire-arms. On our last day's journey on the Urubamba 

 above the mouth of the Timpia one of our Indian boys dropped his 

 canoe pole on the hammer of a loaded shotgun, and not only shot 

 his own fingers to pieces, but gravely wounded his father (Fig. 2). 

 In spite of his suffering the old chief directed our work at the 

 canoe and even was able to tell us the location of the most favora- 

 ble channel. Though the night that followed was as black as ink, 

 with even the stars obscured by a rising storm, his directions 

 never failed. We poled our way up five long rapids without spe- 

 cial difficulties, now working into the lee of a rock whose location 

 he knew within a few yards, now paddling furiously across the 

 channel to catch the upstream current of an eddy. 



The principal groups of Machigangas live in the middle Uru- 

 bamba and its tributaries, the Yavero, Yuyato, Shirineiri, Ticum- 

 pinea, Timpia, Pachitea, and others. There is a marked difference 

 in the use of the land and the mode of life among the different 

 groups of this subtribe. Those who live in the lower plains and 

 river "playas," as the patches of flood plain are called, have a sin- 

 gle permanent dwelling and alternately fish and hunt. Those that 

 live on hill farms have temporary reed huts on the nearest sand- 

 bars and spend the best months of the dry season — April to Oc- 

 tober — in fishing and drying fish to be carried to their mountain 

 homes (Fig. 21). Some families even duplicate chacras or farms 

 at the river bank and grow yuca and sugar cane. In latter years 

 smallpox, malaria, and the rubber hunters have destroyed many 

 of the river villages and driven the Indians to. permanent resi- 

 dence in the hills or, where raids occur, along secret trails to hid- 

 den camps. 



Their system of agriculture is strikingly adapted to some im- 

 portant features of tropical soil. The thin hillside soils of the 

 region are but poorly stocked with humus, even in their virgin 

 condition. Fallen trees and foliage decay so quickly that the layer 

 of forest mold is exceedingly thin and the little that is incor- 

 porated in the soil is confined to a shallow surface layer. To meet 

 these special conditions the Indian makes new clearings by gir- 



