234 



AMAZONIAN BOATS. 



from the Atlantic ocean, and is trying to sell them the very articles 

 they are struggling for at such great expense from the other direction. 

 He has brought a cargo of glassware and Pennsylvania iron up the Ma- 

 deira, while they seem to insist upon getting New England tools over 

 the Andes. He expresses to me the great difficulty he finds in selling 

 his cargo. The Creoles seem perfectly contented with the trade as it is ; 

 some of them have gone so far as to express an opinion that, should 

 commerce be made to flow through the Madeira, it will destroy their 

 present prosperity. 



The department of the Beni is considered by the government the 

 dungeon of this country. When a man's opinions are thought by the 

 president to endanger the public peace, he is banished to the Beni. He 

 leaves his domicil on the tops of the Andes, and comes down under the 

 tamarind trees of Mojos. This band of exiles settle here amidst an 

 industrious tribe of Indian planters. By their superior intelligence and 

 greater recklessness, as a race, they out-trade the Indians. The Indian 

 produces all the necessaries of life — he makes hats, cotton cloths, and 

 leather shoes ; tend^ the cattle ; manufactures sugar ; raises coffee and 

 chocolate, yuca and plantains ; builds houses ; bakes the pottery, and 

 lassoes the horse on the prairie for the Creole to ride. He is brought 

 under control, and obeys as a servant. 



We find our enterprise less popular here than anywhere upon our 

 route. The prefect of the department tells me he doubts if one of the 

 people will consent to go down with me to the Amazon ; that Seiior Pa- 

 lacios was one of the government authorities, and the Indians did not 

 dare to disobey when they were called upon to go on his expedition ; 

 but the Englishman says the men had such a rough time of it on that 

 occasion, that when they returned and told their families and neighbors, 

 it made such an impression they refused to go again, and deserted from 

 the canoes. One of the correjidores fitted out an expedition for Para ; 

 when the Indians ran, he confessed he had to run with them for fear of 

 being left to starve in the wilderness. They have less fear of savages, 

 it is said, than of the roaring sound of the falling waters. 



I rode two leagues over the pampa with Don Antonio, to visit his 

 vessels, which we found moored by the bank of the Ybare river. The 

 largest, the size of a line of-battle ship's launch built upon, had a covered 

 cabin, and a roof over the forward part of the hold, called by the Ama- 

 zon sailor " Coberta." The second one was also covered, but smaller, 

 called " Igarite." They are without masts, propelled on the river by 

 paddles or poles, and prepared to pass over the land on rollers. The 

 largest one mounted a small four-pound iron gun, which Don Antonio 



