THE MOYOBAMBINOS. 



157 



There is little or no money in this country. Tocuyo, wax from the 

 Ucayali, and balls of cotton thread, are used in its place. The English 

 goods that come from the interior sell in Tarapoto for four times their 

 cost in Lima: for example, a yard of printed calico, which costs in Lima 

 twelve and a half cents, sells in this place for either a pound of wax, 

 four yards of tocuyo, or two pounds of cotton thread. (It is worth 

 twenty -five cents, money.) 



I suppose there is a little money obtained for these articles in Huan- 

 uco and Chachapoyas, or left here by travelling strangers. But if so, it 

 falls into the hands of the traders and is hoarded away. These traders 

 are either Moyobambinos, (inhabitants of Moyobamba,) or foreigners of 

 Spain, France, and Portugal. The Moyobambinos are the Jews of the 

 country, and will compass sea and land to make a dollar. I met with 

 them everywhere on the river ; and I think that I did not enter an 

 Indian village without finding a Moyobambino domiciliated and trading 

 with the inhabitants. They are a thin, spare, sickly-looking people, of 

 a very dark complexion, but seem capable of undergoing great hardship 

 and fatigue, for they carry their cargoes to marts hundreds of leagues 

 distant by roads or river that present innumerable difficulties. 



They bear a bad character on the river, and are said to cheat and 

 oppress the Indians ; so that when I could not get a yucca for my supper 

 without paying for it in advance, I vented my spleen by abusing a 

 Moyobambino, who had treated the people so badly that they distrusted 

 everybody. But I have had reason, once or twice, for abusing other 

 people besides Moyobambinos on this account ; for the governor of 

 Tarapoto hesitated about trusting me with a canoe to descend the river, 

 because a person representing himself as a countryman of mine had run 

 off with one some years before. I imagine this is the same honest 

 German who " did" Colonel Lucar at Huanuco. 



I met at this place my countryman Hacket, whom I had heard spoken 

 so highly of in Cerro Pasco and Huanuco. He is employed in making 

 copper kettles (called pailas) for distilling, and in all kinds of blacksmith 

 and foundry work. He seems settled in this country for life, and has 

 adopted the habits and manners of the people. Poor fellow — how re- 

 joiced he was to see the face and hear the speech of a countryman ! I 

 am indebted to him for the following statistics concerning Tarapoto : 



" The population of Tarapoto, with its annexed ports of Shapaja and 

 Juan Guerra, is five thousand three hundred and fifty souls. The births 

 annually are from two hundred and twenty to two hundred and fifty ; 

 deaths, from thirty to fifty. 



" The principal occupation of the people is the manufacture of cotton 



