TRAVELLING MERCHANTS. 



177 



shy ; and the fish, of which there are a great number, do not readily 

 take the hook ; of fruit I have seen literally none edible since leaving 

 Huanuco. 



At Chasuta I was assured that I should find at Yurimaguas every 

 facility for the prosecution of my journey ; yet I could get neither a 

 boat nor a man, and had to persuade my Chasuta boatmen to carry me 

 on to Sta. Cruz, where the Yurimaguas people said there would be no 

 further difficulty. At Sta. Cruz I could get but two small and rotten 

 canoes, with three men to each, for Laguna, which, being the great port 

 of the river, could, in the estimation of the people at Sta. Cruz, furnish 

 me with the means of crossing the Atlantic if necessary. I had been 

 always assured that I could get at Laguna one hundred Cocamillas, if I 

 wanted them, as a force to enter among the savages of the Ucayali ; 

 but here, too, I could with difficulty get six men and two small canoes 

 to pass me on to Nauta, which I expected to find, from the description 

 of the people above, a small New York. Had it not been that Senhor 

 Cauper, at that place, had just then a boat unemployed, which he was 

 willing to sell, I should have had to abandon my expedition up the 

 Ucayali, aud built me a raft to float down the Maraiion. 



We found at the port of Laguna two travelling merchants, a Portu- 

 guese and a Brazilian. They had four large boats of about -eight tons 

 each, and two or three canoes. Their cargo consisted of iron, steel, 

 iron implements, crockery-ware, wine, brandy, copper kettles, coarse, 

 short swords, (a very common implement of the Indians,) guns, ammu- 

 nition, salt fish, <fec, which they expected to exchange in Moyobamba 

 and Chachapoyas for straw-hats, tocuyo, sugar, coffee, and money. 

 They were also buying up all the sarsaparilla they could find, and 

 despatching it back in canoes. They gave for the arroba, of twenty- 

 five pounds, three dollars and fifty cents in goods, which probably cost 

 in Para one dollar. They estimated the value of their cargoes at five 

 thousand dollars. I have no doubt that two thousand dollars in money 

 would have bought the whole concern, boats and all ; and that with 

 this the traders would have drifted joyfully down the river, well satisfied 

 with their year's work. They invited us to breakfast off roast pig ; and 

 I thought that I never tasted anything better than the farinha, which I 

 saw for the first time. 



Farinha is a general substitute for bread in all the course of the 

 Amazon below the Brazilian frontier. It is used by all classes, and in 

 immense quantities by the Indians and laborers. Our boatmen in 

 Brazil were always contented with plenty of salt fish and farinha. 

 Every two or three hours of the day, whilst travelling, they would stop 

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