The Idol Head of the Jivaros. 



135 



in flavour to the best Bast India cinnamon, and 3000 to 4000 

 lbs. of it are annually ga- 

 thered. A wholesome and 

 nourishing drink is made 

 from the Jatropha manihot, 

 and this valuable root is of 

 almost universal use as food, 

 and for many other purposes 

 throughout Ecuador, New 

 Granada, and Peru. The 

 Torquilla palm is most abun- 

 dant, and yields the beautiful 

 straw used in making the 

 Panama hats. 



In addition to all this 

 vegetable productiveness and 

 wealth, this favoured district 

 is rich in gold, and may boast 

 of having the famous aurife- 

 rous mountain of Llanganate 

 within its boundaries. The 

 natives are not slow in turn- 

 ing this to their own account, 

 and quickly collect for the 

 traders an ample supply of 

 the precious metal to ex- 

 change for their much co- 

 veted goods. The fertility 

 of the soil is, in a great mea- 

 sure, to be attributed to its 

 plentiful irrigation, not only 

 by the smaller rivers, Chin- 

 chip e, Pastasa, and Mara- 

 fion, but likewise by the 

 mighty Amazon, of which 

 they are tributaries; and it 

 is in the forests among 

 these rivers that the Jivaro 

 Indians now make their 

 homes. They are an an- 

 cient and warlike people, and 

 their history is given by 

 Vela /jo, the historian of 

 Quito, together with an ac- 

 count of their conspiracy 

 against the Spaniards in 

 1599, an outbreak which procured for them the title of Aran- 



