AMAZON ROUTE. 53 



to the bottom of the river, while earth and sand are heaped upon them ; 

 drift-wood and vegetable matter catch in the roots or lodge against the 

 trunk. This is work by the laws of the Almighty. A little island is 

 thus built ; it grows larger and larger every year ; as it increases in 

 size, in the middle of the river, it occupies space which before was 

 covered with water. The same body of water must pass ; as it does so, 

 it cuts a deeper channel, while it also caves away the banks, whose earth 

 and growth are carried farther down by the freshets. One channel 

 grows larger than the other ; the smaller one probably fills up, and then 

 our island is lost by its attachment to the main lard. Should the river 

 be large enough to float a vessel, and there be no falls between it and 

 the sea, that island is the head of navigation. Suppose it is in latitude 

 12° south, longitude 70° west, of Greenwich, the distance from the 

 island to the mouth of the river Purus is 735 miles; course N E. -J E. 

 from the mouth of the Purus down the Amazon to the sea, a straight line 

 is 806 miles; course E. N. E.f E. 735 + 806 = 1541, which distance a 

 steamer can run in six days. Triple this time for turnings and stoppages 

 for fuel, we have eighteen days then from the mouth of the Amazon up 

 to this island. 



A ship, loaded with woollen and cotton goods, and with hardware 

 ploughs, and farming utensils — of which there are none, except some 

 miserable old muskets — with corn, rice, buckwheat, hemp, toba6co, all 

 kinds of flower and garden seeds, plants, vines, and shoes, would require 

 twenty-five days to the mouth of the Amazon, eighteen days to the 

 island, and ten days to Cuzco: in all 53 days. On the route travelled 

 at the present day, by Cape Horn to Yslay, on the Pacific — the nearest 

 seaport to Cuzco — the passage would occupy 105 days, and 15 days 

 from there to Cuzco: in all 120 days. Ti?ne with merchants is money. 



But the great river must be explored from its mouth up. When we 

 swam across the Cosnipata, with our bamboo balsa, I lost my straw hat 

 in the middle of the stream. ,Should it be found in the mouth of the 

 Purus, I shall hereafter maintain that it is fully entitled to the honor of 

 having decided that the Cosnipata is a tributary of the Purus. The 

 India-rubber trade is increasing every year. It is now the most import- 

 ant export from the Amazon, and is destined to be of much greater 

 value. Few trees are found near us. 



The mules being well rested and fed on the mountain grasses, we 

 overtook a red-haired, thin, sallow-complexioned man, slowly walking 

 after an old horse, loaded with Peruvian bark. This was a cascarillero 

 returning from the labors of the season in the forest. He had been sick, 

 and went homeward with a slim reward. He presented a striking contrast 



