Route to Plain of the Amazon 



445 





The Peruvian Military Camp near the River Madre de Dios 



forest live various groups of savages, 

 known as Chunchos. They dwell in 

 general along the banks of the rivers, 

 and indeed they seem almost as much 

 at home on, or even in, the river as on 

 the land. The reputation which they 

 enjoy is none of the best. We met 

 half a dozen groups during our expe- 

 dition, some of whom apparently had 

 never before seen white men. They 

 impressed me as simple and well-dis- 

 posed, if treated fairly, and surprisingly 

 intelligent. Indeed, several times while 

 attempting to converse with them by 

 means of signs I could not resist the 

 impression that they were merely mas- 

 querading under the guise of savagery. 

 From almost every standpoint, how- 

 ever, they are mere savages. They are 

 nomadic, roaming up and down the 

 rivers and building only the rudest 

 huts. They have no metal implements, 

 so far as I could learn, and few, if any, 

 made of stone. Some of them appear 



to have no proper household utensils, 

 and such scant pottery as I saw was 

 very rude. Their clothing is made of 

 the fibrous bark of a certain tree, called 

 by them Ianchama. This is stripped off 

 in large pieces and pounded on flat 

 stones with great patience until the 

 coarser materials are removed and only 

 the inner, tough, but rather soft and 

 pliable, bark is left. This resembles in 

 texture a coarse cloth. Two pieces of 

 this material are sewed together to 

 form a sleeveless shirt which reaches 

 from the shoulders to the knees. 

 Shawls and loin-cloths are also made 

 from the same bark. These garments 

 are not always worn, however, for 

 when we approached a village unan- 

 nounced both men and women com- 

 pletely nude were sometimes seen. 



Their ideas in regard to propriety 

 were satisfied by a loin-cloth, and sev- 

 eral young women of modest mien and 

 rather dignified presence stood and at- 



