THE EMBARKATION. 



141 



we danced till eleven o'clock. The custom of the dance requires that a 

 gentleman should choose a lady and dance with her, in the middle of 

 the floor, till she gives over, (the company around clapping their hands 

 in time to the music, and cheering the dancers with vivas at any par- 

 ticular display of agility or spirit in the dance.) He then presents his 

 partner with a glass of grog, leads her to her seat, and chooses another. 

 When he tires there is a general drink, and the lady has the choice. 

 The Scfior Commandante was in considerable request; and a fat old 

 lady, who would not dance with any body else, nearly killed me. The 

 governor discharged our guns several times, and let off some rockets 

 that we had brought from Huanuco ; and I doubt if Tingo Maria had 

 ever witnessed such a brilliant affair before. 



August 4. — I waked up with pain in the legs and headache from 

 dancing, and found our men and canoes ready for embarkation. After 

 breakfast the governor and his wife, (though I grievously fear that there 

 bad been no intervention of the priest in the matter of the union,) to- 

 gether with several of our partners of the previous night, accompanied 

 us to the port. After loading the canoes the governor made a short 

 address to the canoe-men, telling them that we "were no common per- 

 sons ; that they were to have a special care of us ; to be very obedient, 

 &c, and that he would put up daily prayers for their safe return ;" 

 whereupon, after a glass all round, from a bottle brought down specially 

 by our hostess, and a hearty embrace of the governor, his lady, and my 

 fat friend of the night before, we embarked and shoved off ; the boat- 

 men blowing their horns as we drifted rapidly down with the current of 

 the river, and the party on shore waving their hats and shouting their 

 adieus. 



We had two canoes : the largest about forty feet long, by two and 

 a half broad ; hollowed out from a single log, and manned each by five 

 men and a boy. They are conducted by a puntero, or bowman, who 

 looks out for rocks or sunken trees ahead ; a popero, or steersman, who 

 stands on a little platform at the stern of the boat and guides her 

 motions ; and the bogas, or rowers, who stand up to paddle, having one 

 foot in the bottom of the boat and the other on the gunwale. When 

 the river was smooth and free from obstructions, we drifted with the 

 current ; the men sitting on the trunks and boxes, chatting and laugh- 

 ing with each other ; but, as we approached a mal-paso, their serious 

 looks, and the firm position in which each one planted himself at his 

 post, showed that work was to be done. I felt a little nervous at first; 

 but when we had fairly entered the pass, the rapid gesture of the pun- 

 tero, indicating the channel ; the elegant and graceful position of the 



