FURTHER EXPLORATIONS IN THE LAND OF THE INCAS 469 



After ascending- the steep northern 

 slope of the Vilcabamba Valley, the trail 

 continued from the summit down gentle, 

 grassy slopes, encountering the forest 

 again at 11,000 feet. 



"From some of the forest openings," 

 writes Naturalist Heller, "we obtained 

 views of the great forest about us. It 

 was a wilderness supreme, from which 

 not even the thin columns of smoke of 

 the camp-fires of savages could be seen. 

 Nowhere else have I ever met with a re- 

 gion showing such little evidence of the 

 presence of man. Finally, the road 

 turned from the ridge and dropped down 

 a steep grade for a league or more to the 

 San Miguel River. 



"The next day we came to the meeting 

 point of the San Miguel and the Pampa- 

 conas. These two large streams form 

 the Cosireni River, along which we con- 

 tinued to Yuveni." 



"Our journey from Yuveni to the junc- 

 tion of the Cosireni with the Urubamba", 

 write Messrs. Maynard and Ford, "took 

 three days. The porters were rather a 

 poor lot, full of malaria, and about two- 

 thirds of them suffering from Oriental 



sore. 



VICIOUS ANTS 



'Two varieties of ants annoyed us con- 

 siderably. The bite of the one — a small 

 red ant — was not serious. One of our 

 guides, bitten in the foot by the other 

 species, suffered intense pain for a num- 

 ber of hours. Not only did his foot give 

 him great pain, but also his leg and hip. 



"On our trip three Indians spent one 

 whole night fishing, and had one fish re- 

 sembling a perch, and weighing about 

 four pounds, to show for their work. All 

 these Indians are inveterate coca chewers. 

 Tobacco leaves are burned and the ashes 

 placed in a gourd, where they are mixed 

 with water until a pasty mass is formed. 

 This mixture is dipped with a stick tipped 

 with cotton, in much the same way that 

 snuff is sometimes taken. 



"Two beverages are made, one from 

 yuccas and the other from honey. The 

 first of these I saw being prepared and 

 did not try it. The second, which is 

 called 'milk of flies', I tried and found 

 delicious. A large hairless caterpillar 



forms another article of the Indians' 

 diet." 



Naturalist Heller learned that the best 

 hunting was to be found two days' march 

 further on, in the valley of the Comber- 

 ciato. Of his experience on this unex- 

 plored stream Mr. Lleller writes, in part : 



"In volume the river is twice that of 

 the Cosireni. On its banks lived several 

 families of Machiganga savages in small 

 open huts. They gathered the rubber 

 sap, which they traded for salt, knives, 

 cloth, etc., as they have no conception of 

 the use of coins and are quite out of 

 touch with the Peruvian civilization of 

 the highlands (see page 472). 



MONKEY MEAT A FAVORITE DISH 



"The men are keen hunters and fisher- 

 men. Their weapons consist of a black, 

 ebony-like bow, made from the outer 

 wood of one of the small, prickly- 

 stemmed palms, and long reed arrows, 

 which have the feathers at the base ar- 

 ranged in a spiral, so as to give a spiral 

 twist to the projectile and greater accu- 

 racy to the weapon. Many are also 

 armed with shot-guns, of an ancient, 

 muzzle-loading type, with very long bar- 

 rels and of small caliber. With these 

 arms they hunt monkeys chiefly, of whose 

 flesh they are very fond. 



"Game birds of large size were abun- 

 dant. In size and color the tinanwu re- 

 sembles the common guinea-hen. Its note 

 was a clear, mellow whistle, one of the 

 pleasantestand most characteristic sounds 

 of the forest during the early morning, 

 and again at dusk. Several species of 

 large turkey-like birds, known as curra- 

 soivs, were often met. One of these was 

 a heavy, glossy-black bird the size of our 

 turkey, with a high, coral-red bill. On 

 several occasions we saAv it about the huts 

 of the savages, thoroughly domesticated 

 and at liberty. 



"Parrots of many species were seen. 

 Giant macaws were numerous and paro- 

 quettes abundant. A yellow-winged par- 

 rot, with remarkable ability as a linguist, 

 was seen in a few localities. 



"All of these species were seen do- 

 mesticated or as pets about the huts of 

 the Machigangas, who were very fond of 

 the society of wild animals and showed 



