234 



THE TICUNAS. 



We sailed at noon, and arrived at Peruate at 5 p. m., (twenty miles.) 

 The population of this village is one hundred, made up of remnants of 

 different tribes — Ticunas, and natives of the towns of Barranca, on the 

 upper Amazon, and Andoas, on the Pastaza. I talked with an old 

 negro who had been many times up the Napo. He confirmed the 

 accounts that I had from other people. 



November 28. — From Peruate to Camucheros is thirty miles. This 

 place has only a population of four families, recently settled there, who 

 have cleared away a small portion of the forest and commenced their 

 plantations of yuccas, maize, and rice. Just below Camucheros we had 

 apparently all the width of the river in view — about a mile broad. I 

 was surprised to find, near the middle of it, only thirty feet of water. 

 I think a sand-bank stretches out a long way from the left shore. The 

 velocity of the current was two and a quarter miles the hour. We 

 arrived at Moromorote at a quarter past 6 p. m., (distance fifteen miles.) 



This consists of one house of christianized Indians. There is a 

 house of Ticunas a mile further inland. We could hear the sound of 

 their music, and sent them word that we wanted to buy animals and 

 food from them. They came to see us after night, but were drunk, and 

 had nothing to sell. 



November 29. — We passed to-day a number of small islands. Be- 

 tween one of them and the right bank, where the river was at least a 

 quarter of a mile wide, we saw many trees grounded, and, in what ap- 

 peared the deepest part, found but twelve feet of water. Doubtless there 

 is more in the other channels, and more might possibly be found in this. 



At 9 a. m., after a journey of twenty miles, we entered the caiio of 

 Caballococha, (Horse lake.) It is about eighty yards wide, and has 

 eighteen feet of depth in the middle. The water is clear, and makes an 

 agreeable contrast with the muddy waters of the Amazon ; but, there 

 being no current in the caiio, the water is supposed to be not so good to 

 drink as that of the main river, which is very good when it is allowed 

 to settle. 



The village is situated on the caiio, about a mile and a half from 

 the entrance, and at the same distance from the lake. It contains two 

 hundred and seventy-five inhabitants, mostly Ticunas Indians. These 

 are darker than the generality of Indians of the Mararion, though not so 

 dark as the Marubos; and they are beardless, which frees them from the 

 negro-look that these last have. Their houses are generally plastered 

 with mud inside, and are far neater-looking, and more comfortable, than 

 the other Indian residences that I have seen. This is, however, entirely 

 owing to the activity and energy of the priest, Father Flores, who seems 



