ACOMAYO. 



125 



were principally willow and fruit-trees, with here arid there a cotton tree, 

 bearing indifferent staple. The mountains on the left, or Huanuco side, 

 send down spurs towards the river, between which are pretty little 

 valleys, not deep and narrow, but spread out like a fan. In each one 

 of these there is situated a small village or a hacienda, presenting, with 

 its fields of cane and alfalfa, and, higher up, wheat, a very pretty 

 appearance. It is not so on the right bank. The small streams that 

 flow into the river from this side come down rugged ravines, with sides 

 of soft rock and white earth, and are generally very muddy. We 

 stopped two miles beyond Valle at a hacienda called Chullqui, and 

 slept in an Indian hut with several other people, one a sick woman 

 with a child two days old. Height of hullqui, by B. P., five thousand 

 six hundred and twenty-six feet above the level of the sea. 



July 23. — Course still N. E. along the banks of the Huallaga. Tr 4 s 

 principally small acacias. At six miles from Chullqui we crossed the 

 river, turned to the north, and ascended a ravine (down which flowed a 

 small stream) to the village of Acomayo. The river continues its course 

 to the northward and eastward and sweeps around the base of the hills, 

 which form (going up) the right-hand side of the Quebrada, up which 

 we were travelling. The road which we had left, continuing along the 

 banks of the river, leads to Panao, Muria, and Pozuzu ; Smyth's route 

 to the Pachitea. 



Acomayo is a very pleasantly situated village, of about three hun- 

 dred inhabitants. When the authorities are asked concerning the 

 population of any place they always give the number of families. This 

 place has seventy "casados," or couples of married people ; and I judge ? 

 from experience, that five to each family is a fair allowance. The water 

 here is very good, which was an agreeable change from the Huanuco 

 water ; and the fruits, oranges, figs, guavas, and chirimoyas, are of good 

 quality. I noticed, also, a tree bearing a large, bell-shaped flower, called 

 floripondia. This is an old acquaintance of mine ; it gives out a de- 

 licious fragrance at night, which, accompanied, as I have known it, by 

 soft air, rich moon-light, and gentle company, makes bare existence a 

 happiness. 



About three miles up the "Quebrada" we turned to the northeast, 

 and commenced the ascent of the Cerro de Carpis. This is one of a 

 range of mountains running to the southward and eastward, forming 

 the left-hand side of the valley of Acomayo, (looking down the stream,) 

 and dividing the Sierra from the Montana. The ascent is six miles 

 long, and very tedious. I had no water to ascertain its height by the 

 boiling-point apparatus, but judge, from the great descent to Cashi, (a 



