184 



COMMERCE. 



Sarsaparilla is a vine of sufficient size to shoot up fifteen or twenty 

 feet from the root without support. It then embraces the surrounding 

 trees, and spreads to a great distance. The main root sends out many- 

 tendrils, generally about two lines in diameter, and five feet long. 

 These are gathered and tied up in large bundles of about a Portuguese 

 arroba, or thirty-two pounds of weight. The main root, or madre, 

 should not be disturbed ; but the Indians are little careful in this matter, 

 and frequently cut it off, by which much sarsaparilla is destroyed. 

 The digging up of the small roots out of the wet and marshy soil is a 

 laborious and unhealthy occupation. 



It is to be found on the banks of almost every tributary of the great 

 streams of the Montana ; but a great many of these are not worked, on 

 account of the savages living on their banks, who frequently attack the 

 parties that come to gather it. On the "Pangoa" are the Camj)as; on ^ 

 the "Pachitea," the "Aguaytia." and the "Pisque," are the "Cashibos;" 

 and the whole southern border of the Amazon, from the mouth of the 

 Ucayali to that of the Yavari, is inhabited by the "Mayorunas;" all 

 savages, and averse to intercourse with the white man. The same is 

 the case on the "Tigreyacu," where there is said to be much sarsapa- 

 rilla. Padre Calvo, the president of the Missions at Sarayacu, told me 

 that, although he has the exclusive right, by order of the prefect, of 

 collecting all the sarsaparilla on the Ucayali and its tributaries, he could 

 not, if I were willing to pay any price, supply me with more than 

 three hundred arrobas per annum, on account of the difficulty of getting 

 laborers who are willing to brave the attacks of the savages. 



I have estimated the annual cost of running a small steamer be- 

 tween Loreto, the frontier port of Peru and Chasuta, a distance of eight 

 hundred miles, entirely within the Peruvian territory, at twenty thousand 

 dollars, including the establishment of blacksmiths' and carpenters' shops 

 at Nauta for her repairs. , According to the estimate of Arebalo, (and I 

 judge that he is very nearly correct,) the value of the imports and ex- 

 ports to and from Brazil is twenty thousand dollars annually. I have no 

 doubt that the appearance of a steamer in these waters would at once 

 double the value; for it would, in- the first place, convert the thousand 

 men who are now employed in the fetching and carrying of the articles 

 of trade into producers, and would give a great impulse to trade by 

 facilitating it. A loaded canoe takes eighty days to ascend these eight 

 hundred miles. A steamer will do it in twelve, giving ample time to 

 take in wood, to land and receive cargo at the various villages on the 

 river, and to lay by at night. When the river becomes better known 

 she can run for a large part of the night, and thus shorten her time 



