154 



KIDNAPPING. 



strapping fellow, came in, and after a brief but courteous salutation to 

 me, turned to one of the women, and drove her out of the house with* 

 kicks and curses. He followed her, and I soon after heard the sound of 

 blows and the cries of a woman; I suppose the fellow was either jealous? 

 or the lady had neglected some household duty to gratify her curiosity. 



August 18. — Just below Juan Comas the river has one hundred yards 

 of width and forty-two feet of depth. This part of the river is called 

 the " well" of Juan Comas; it is half a mile in length, and the current 

 runs but one and a quarter mile the hour. The hills terminate just 

 below this, and we have the country flat on both sides. We passed 

 some rocky hills on the right-hand side, in one of which is a cave called 

 " Puma-huasi," or Tiger house. It is said to be very extensive. Soon 

 after we passed the mouth of the river Hunanza, a small stream coming 

 in on the Infidel side of the river. Our popero says that the Infidels 

 dwell near here, and the people of Tarapoto go a short distance up this 

 river to capture the young Indians and take them home as slaves. I 

 believe this story ; for I found servants of this class in Tarapoto, who 

 were bought and sold as slaves. Slavery is prohibited by the laws of 

 Peru ; but this system is tolerated on the plea that the Infidel is chris- 

 tianized and his condition bettered by it- 

 It is very easy for only a few white men, armed with guns, to rob 

 the savages of their children ; for these rarely live in villages, but in 

 families of at most three or four huts, and widely separated from each 

 other. They never assemble except for the purpose of war ; and then 

 the sound of a horn, from settlement to settlement, brings them to* 

 gether. They are also a timid people, and will not face the white 

 man's gun. 



It is possible that the story of the popero is not true, and that the 

 whites may buy the children of the Indians; but if so, I imagine that 

 the advantages of the bargain are all on one side. 



Below the mouth of the Hunanza we have the same comparatively 

 bare hills that I noticed opposite Juan Comas. They present ridges of 

 red earth and dark stone, which curve from the south towards the 

 northeast, and are elevated in that direction to about 20°. I suspect 

 that they have veins of salt, particularly as the salt hills of Pilluana 

 are of the same range, and present at a distance nearly the same 

 appearance. 



The hills of Pilluana, which we now soon passed, have their base 

 immediately upon the river, on the right-hand side. They are about 

 three hundred feet in height, and stretch along the banks of the river 

 for a quarter of a mile. The salt shows like frost upon the red earth at 



