176 



LAGUNA. 



silver Crucifix and a wooden St. Anthony. He thinks a priest next of 

 kin to a saint, and a saint perfection. He said to me, as his wife was 

 combing her hair in the canoe, "A bald woman, Don Luis, must be a 

 very ugly thing : not so a bald man, because St. Peter, you know, was 

 bald ;" and I verily believe that, although he is very vain of his black 

 curls, were he to lose them, he would find consolation in the reflection 

 that he had made an approach, in appearance at least, towards his great 

 exemplar. 



We shoved off from Sta. Cruz at sunset, and camped on the beach a 

 mile lower down. It is very well to do this, for the canoe-men are taken 

 away from the temptation of the villages, and are sober and ready for 

 an early start next morning. 



August 31. — Started at 6 a. m. ; camped on the beach at a quarter- 

 past 5 p. m. 



September 1. — Heavy clouds and rains both to the northward and 

 eastward and southward and westward, with an occasional spit at us ; 

 but we set the rain at defiance under the palm-thatched roof of Antonio. 

 At half-past 3 p. m. we arrived at Laguna. This town, the principal 

 one of the district, and the residence of the governor, is one and a half 

 mile from the port. The walk is a pleasant one through the forest at 

 this season, but is probably mud to the knees in the rains. It contains 

 one thousand and forty-four inhabitants; and the productions of the 

 neighborhood are wax, sarsaparilla, copal, copaiba, and salt fish. I have 

 seen all these in the hands of the Indians, but in small quantities ; there 

 being so little demand for them. 



The Cocamillas, who form the largest part of the population of 

 Laguna, are lazy and drunken. They are capital boatmen, however, 

 when they have no liquor ; and I had more comfort with them than 

 with any other Indians except those of Tingo Maria. 



September 2. — Waiting for boats and boatmen. There are no large 

 canoes, and we are again compelled to take two. I was surprised at 

 this, as I was led to believe — and I thought it probable — that the nearer 

 we got to- the Maranon the larger we should find the boats, and the 

 means of navigation more complete. But I have met with nothing but 

 misstatements in my whole course. The impression I received in Lima 

 of the Montana was, that it was a country abounding not only with the 

 necessaries, but with the luxuries of life, so far as eating was concerned. 

 Yet I am now satisfied that if one hundred men were to start without 

 provisions, on the route I have travelled, the half must inevitably perish 

 for want of food. Of meat there is almost none ; and even salt fish, 

 yuccas, and plantains are scarce, and often not to be had; game is 



