THE UCAYALI. 



199 



ten feet above it, divides into thick, wide tablets, which, widening as 

 they come down, stand out like buttresses for the support of the tree ; 

 but even with this provision no day passes that we do not hear the 

 crashing fall of some giant of the forest. Re-stowed the boat, and 

 repaired Ijurra's palace, making it narrower and higher. 



October 3. — Many huananas, with their broods, upon the river. Shot 

 a large brown bird called chansu, (cigana in Brazil;) it has a crest, 

 erectile at pleasure, and looks like a pheasant. Large flocks frequent 

 the cane on the banks of the river; they have a very game look, and 

 are attractive to the sportsman; but the Indians call them a foul bird, 

 and do not eat them ; the crop of this was filled with green herbage. 



October 4. — Clear all night, with heavy dew. The anchor, which is 

 a sixty-four-pound weight, had sunk so deep in the thick dark sand of 

 the bottom as to require the united exertions of all hands to get it. 

 Met three canoes going down loaded with sarsaparilla ; bought some 

 yuccas and plantains at a settlement of five families of Conibos, on the 

 left bank of the river. Got also specimens of the black wax of the 

 country, and "lacre," or sealing-wax, which is the gum of a tree, 

 colored red with achote. The black wax is the production of a small 

 bee very little larger than an ant, which builds its house in the ground. 

 The white wax is deposited in the branches of a small tree, which are 

 hollow, and divided into compartments like the joints of a cane. The 

 wood is sufficiently soft to be perforated by the bee; the tree is called 

 cetica, and looks, though larger, like our alder bush. 



October 5. — Stopped at a Conibo rancho on the right bank. Three 

 men and six women, with children, were living in the rancho; they were 

 very poor, and could sell us nothing. The river rose six inches from 

 eight last night to five this morning. Shores to-day low, with large 

 sand beaches ; only four feet of water fifty or sixty yards from them. 

 Current two and a quarter miles. 



October 6. — Passed a settlement of Conibos on left bank — four houses, 

 eight men, and twenty-five women and children. It was quite a treat 

 to see so familiar a flower as the convolvulus growing on the bank. It 

 was not so large or so gay as in our gardens, but had a home look that 

 was very pleasing. Passed a ravine, up which there is a settlement of 

 Amajuacas Indians. These men are hunters, who live in the interior, 

 and seldom come down upon the rivers. The Pirros and Conibos some- 

 times make war upon them, and bring away captives. Yesterday two 

 men — one a Pano, from Sarayacu, and the other an Araajuaca — -joined us 

 to work their passage to Sarayacu. The Amajuaca was so good a 



