INDIANS OF THE UCAYALI. 



207 



season. Many of the Sarayacu people had been with Father Cimini on 

 his expedition. They said that the current was so strong then, when 

 the river was low, that they were forced to drag the canoes by ropes 

 • along the beaches ; that now the current was stronger, and the river so 

 full that there were no beaches, and consequently no places for sleeping, 

 or on which to make fires for cooking. In short, they made a thousand 

 excuses for not going ; but I think the principal reason was, fear of the 

 Campas. 



Fathers Bregati and Lorente reported that they could not raise a man, 

 so that I saw myself obliged to abandon the expedition upon which I 

 had rather set my heart ; for I thought it possible that I might gather 

 great reputation with my Chanchamayo friends by joining them again 

 from below, and showing them that their darling wish (a communication 

 with the Alantic by the Perene and Ucayali) might be accomplished. 



I felt, in turning my boat's head down stream, that the pleasure and 

 excitement of the expedition were passed ; that I was clone, and had 

 done nothing. I became ill and dispirited, and never fairly recovered 

 the gayety of temper and elasticity of spirit which had animated me at 

 the start, until I received the congratulations of my friends at home. 



