THE RAPIDS AND CANYONS OF THE URUBAMBA 15 



Even the summer shelter huts on the sand-bars, where the Indians 

 formerly gathered from their hill homes to fish, are now almost 

 entirely abandoned. Though our men carefully reconnoitered each 

 one for fear of ambush, the precaution was needless. Below the 

 Coribeni the Urubamba is a great silent valley. It is fitted by 

 Nature to support numerous villages, but its vast solitudes are 

 unbroken except at night, when a few families that live in the hills 

 slip down to the river to gather yuca and cane. 



By noon of the second day's journey we reached the head of 

 the great rapid at the mouth of the Sirialo. We had already run 

 the long Coribeni rapid, visited the Indian huts at the junction 

 of the big Coribeni tributary, exchanged our canoe for a larger 

 and steadier one, and were now to run one of the ugliest rapids of 

 the upper river. The rapid is formed by the gravel masses that 

 the Sirialo brings down from the distant Cordillera Vilcapampa. 

 They trail along for at least a half-mile, split the river into two 

 main currents and nearly choke the mouth of the tributary. For 

 almost a mile above this great barrier the main river is ponded 

 and almost as quiet as a lake. 



We let our craft down this rapid by ropes, and in the last dif- 

 ficult passage were so roughly handled by our almost unmanagea- 

 ble canoe as to suffer from several bad accidents. All of the party 

 were injured in one way or another, while I suffered a fracture 

 sprain of the left foot that made painful work of the rest of the 

 river trip. 



At two points below Eosalina the Urubamba is shut in by steep 

 mountain slopes and vertical cliffs. Canoe navigation below the 

 Sirialo and Coribeni rapids is no more hazardous than on the 

 rapids of our northern rivers, except at the two "pongos" or nar- 

 row passages. The first occurs at the sharpest point of the abrupt 

 curve shown on the map; the second is the celebrated Pongo de 

 Mainique. In these narrow passages in time of high water there 

 is no landing for long stretches. The bow paddler stands well 

 forward and tries for depth and current; the stern paddler keeps 

 the canoe steady in its course. When paddlers are in agreement 

 even a heavy canoe can be directed into the most favorable chan- 



