374 Appendix B 



lets the water through. A waterproof canvas floor is a 

 luxury, and, though it adds to the weight, it may with 

 advantage be taken on ordinary trips. The tent should 

 be eight by eight or eight by nine feet, large enough to 

 swing a comfortable hammock. A waterproof canvas 

 bag, a loose-fitting envelope for the tent should be pro- 

 vided. Native help is, as a rule, careless, and the bag 

 would save wear and tear. 



Hammocks. — ^The hammock is the South American 

 bed, and the traveller will find it exceedingly comfortable. 

 After leaving the larger cities and settlements a bed is a 

 rare object. All the houses are provided with extra ham- 

 mock hooks. The traveller will be entertained hospitably 

 and after dinner will be given two hooks upon which to 

 hang his hammock, for he will be expected to have his 

 hammock and, in insect time, his net, if he has nothing 

 else. As a rule, a native hammock and net can be pro- 

 cured in the field. But it is best to take a comfortable 

 one along, arranged with a fine-meshed net. 



In regard to the folding cot: It is heavy and its 

 numerous legs form a sort of highway system over which 

 all sorts of insects can crawl up to the sleeper. The 

 ants are special pests and some of them can bite with the 

 enthusiastic vigor of beasts many times their size. The 

 canvas floor in a tent obviates to a degree the insect 

 annoyance. 



The headwaters of the rivers are usually reached by 

 pack-trains of mules and oxen. The primitive ox-cart 

 also comes in where the trail is not too bad. One hun- 

 dred and sixty to one one hundred and eighty pounds is 



