212 



THE UCAYALI. 



old Andres Urquia, a long, hard- weather, Tom-Coffin-looking fellow, 

 whom travel and exposure for many years seemed to have hardened 

 into a being insensible to fatigue, and impervious to disease. He has 

 navigated the rivers of the country a great deal; was with Father 

 Cimini when driven back by the Campas; and says that he has passed, 

 in company with a Portuguese, named Da'Costa, from the Yavari to the 

 Ucayali in two weeks, by a small inosculating stream called Tana 

 Yacu, and returned in four by the ravine of Maquia. He says that 

 there is another natural canal called Yawarangi, which connects the 

 two rivers. These canals are all very narrow, and are passed by push- 

 ing the canoe with poles ; though Andres says there is plenty of water, 

 but not room enough for such a boat as mine. 



We passed the distance from Sarayacu to Nauta in eight days, which 

 had cost us twenty-three in the ascent. The distance from Sarayacu 

 to the mouth by the channel is two hundred and seventy miles — in a 

 straight line one hundred and fifty. We travelled all one night when 

 near the mouth; but this is dangerous on the Ucayali and Huallaga. 

 The channels on these rivers are frequently obstructed by grounded trees,, 

 striking one of which the boat would almost inevitably perish. It is 

 safer on the broader Amazon. 



The Ucayali, as far as Sarayacu, averages half a mile of width, 

 twenty feet of depth at its lowest stage, and three miles the hour of 

 current. I fear that there is a place at the great bend of the river, 

 just below Sarayacu, where there are islands with extensive sand-flats, 

 that may form, at the lowest stage of the river, an obstruction to navi- 

 gation for a vessel of greater draught than ten feet. At this place, going 

 up, we were paddling close in to the left bank, with apparently deep 

 water, when, seeing a beach on what I thought was the opposite side 

 of the river, probably two hundred and fifty yards distant, I directed 

 the pilot to go over and camp for the night. To my surprise, almost 

 immediately from the moment of his turning the boat's head outward 

 to cross over, the men dropped their paddles, and, taking to their poles, 

 shoved the boat over in not more than four or five feet water. I ob- 

 served, when we had crossed, that we were on the beach of an island, 

 and asked the pilot if there was more water in the other channel, on the 

 right bank. He said, yes ; that, when the river was very low, this side 

 was dry, but the other never. 



It is difficult, on account of the roving habits of the people who live 

 upon the Ucayali, to make any estimate concerning the increase and 

 decrease of the population. I scarcely find a village that Smyth names 

 when he passed in 1835, and find several which he does not mention. 

 Tipishka JVueva, which he says was the largest settlement on the river 



