134 



THE CAVE. 



The trees of the forest are large, tall, and without branches for a great 

 distance up. Ijurra pointed out one to me, of smooth bark, about four 

 feet diameter near the ground, and which ran up sixty or seventy feet 

 without a branch. He said that it was so hard that it resisted all 

 attacks of the axe; and, to get it down, it was necessary to remove the 

 earth and set fire to the roots; and that, suffered to lie in the water for 

 a long time, it turned to stone of so hard a character, that, like flint, it 

 would strike fire from steel. Unfortunately for the accuracy of the 

 statement, we next day saw gigantic trees of this species that had been 

 felled with an axe. The wood is, however, very hard and heavy — too 

 much so for any practical use here. The tree is called copirona. It 

 has a smooth bark, which it is continually changing. The old bark is 

 a very pretty light red; the new, a pea-green. 



At half-past 4 p. m., we arrived at the Cave, a place where a huge 

 rock, projecting from the hill-side, made a shelter which would cover 

 and protect from dew or rain about a dozen persons. The Indian who 

 carried my bag of bedding wished to make my bed there; but I decided 

 that it was too damp, and made him spread it out on the shingle by the 

 river brink. The largest part of the cargo had not arrived, and I feared 

 that we were without drink or cigars, which would have been a great 

 deprivation to us after the fatigue of the day. The rice and cheese w T ere 

 on hand; and, to our great delight, Ijurra found in his saddle-bags a 

 bottle of cherry-brandy that Mr. Jump had insisted upon our taking 

 from Cerro Pasco, and which I had forgotten. A tin-pan of hot boiled 

 rice flavored with cheese, a teacup of the brandy, and half a dozen paper 

 cigars, made us very comfortable; and, lulled by the rustling of the 

 leaves and the roar of the river, we slept in spite of the ants and other 

 insects that left the mark of their bites upon our carcasses. I saw here, 

 for the first time, the luciernago, or fire- fly of this country. It is, unlike 

 ours, a species of beetle, carrying two white lights in its eyes, (or, rather, 

 in the places where the eyes of insects generally are,) and a red light 

 between the scales of the belly — so that it reminded me something of 

 the ocean steamers. It has the power of softening the light of the eyes 

 until it becomes very faint; but upon irritating it, by passing the finger 

 over the eyes, the light becomes very bright and sparkling. They are 

 Sometimes carried to Lima, (enclosed in an apartment cut into a sugar- 

 cane,) where the ladies, at balls or theatres, put them in their hair for 

 ornament. 



August 1. — We started, without breakfast, at a quarter to seven, 

 thinking that we were near Tingo Maria. But it was ten miles distant, 

 and I was weary enough ere we arrived. My principal source of annoy- 



