SAN REGIS. 



183 



September 6. — Passed the mouth of the small river Airico on the 

 left. One of our Indians says that the ascent of this river for a week 

 brings the traveller to a lake, and for another week, to mountains. 



We have had quite heavy squalls of wind and rain every day since 

 entering the Amazon. The canoes are so low that they cannot ride 

 the waves of mid-river, and are compelled to haul in for the land, and 

 wait for the storm to pass. We saw alligators to-day, for the first 

 time. 



September 7. — Arrived at Parinari. This is an Indian village of 

 three hundred and thirty inhabitants, situated on a hill on the right 

 bank of the river. It is about twenty feet above the present level of 

 the river, which rises, in the full, to within three feet of the houses. 

 The people live principally by fishing, and gathering sarsaparilla to sell 

 at Nauta. The lieutenant governor gave us some spirits made of 

 plantains. It was vile stuff ; very strong ; and is said to be unwhole- 

 some. 



September 8. — Saw Ronsocos ; and the Fiscales killed six howling 

 monkeys with their pucunas. Passed the mouth of Tigre Yacu on the 

 left. It is seventy yards broad, and looks deep and free from obstruc- 

 tion. Its waters are much clearer than those of the Amazon. It is 

 navigable for canoes a long way up ; and a considerable quantity of 

 sarsaparilla is gathered on its banks, though inhabited by savages, who 

 are said to be warlike and dangerous. We camped at night on an 

 island near the middle of the river. A narrow island lay between us 

 and San Regis, a small pueblo on the left bank, whence we could hear 

 the sound of music and merry-making all night. It has two hundred 

 and ten inhabitants. 



The Fiscales, cooking their big monkeys over a large fire on the beach, 

 presented a savage and most picturesque night scene. They looked more 

 like devils roasting human beings than like servants of the church. 



September 9. — Passed a channel called Pucati, which is a small 

 mouth of the Ucayali. It is now nearly dry. In the rainy season it is 

 passable for canoes ; but spreads out so much in its course (forming 

 small lakes) that it leaves few places to kindle a fire on, or sleep; and 

 is, for this reason, little used. It takes three days to come through it 

 from the Ucayali to the Amazon ; and six to traverse it the other way. 

 Soon after leaving this, we passed another small channel, said to com- 

 municate with a large lake — a large one probably in the full, when this 

 whole country between the Ucayali, Amazon, and channel of Pucati is 

 nearly overflowed. We arrived at Nauta at noon, having travelled two 

 hundred and ten miles from the mouth of the Huallaga. 



