DESCENDING THE MAMORE. 



267 



present of fruit from the correjidor, sent to meet us here, with his 

 farewell compliments. 



September 1, 1852. — The men came down strictly to their promise, 

 and we at last got off, but it is dreadful slow work wading through this 

 country; a man only worries himself who pretends to hurry — poco-poco 

 is the word in Spanish. A few miles below San Martin we came to a 

 stony point, the first rock we have seen since leaving Vinchuta. We 

 take specimens of rocks, metals, minerals, and earths, as we go along. 

 By the river we find chocolate, coffee, sugar-cane, papaya, plantains, pme 

 apples, yuca, large straggling forest trees, thick undergrowth, but no 

 inhabitants. The Indians all sleep in the towns, and work by day in 

 the chacras. The largest cacao leaf I could find measured one foot six 

 and a half inches in length, with five inches and three-quarters in 

 breadth. The cacao tree grows wild in the woods ; when planted in 

 an orchard by themselves, even close together, the yield is much greater 

 than where they grow in the shade of the larger forest trees. The soil 

 here is of the richest kind. 



At 9 a. m., thermometer, 88°; water, 19°. The turns in the river 

 are becoming much longer ; we find sixty-three feet water. With a 

 gun, we landed on the west bank, and paid a visit to the pampa of San- 

 tiago, where the State has a large drove of cattle, attended by Indians. 

 There are numbers of deer, and flocks of birds. The territory to the 

 north, through which the Mamore river flows, is inhabited by a warlike 

 tribe of Indians, called Chacobos, who are constantly fighting with the 

 Cayavabos, our crew. The men caught a number of fish from a pond 

 on the pampa. My bottle, unfortunately, was too small at the mouth 

 to admit more than one species. The banks of the river sometimes 

 break down on both sides perpendicular, like those of the Mississippi. 

 Where this is the case, the river is narrower — 350 # y aids wide — 

 though the soundings are over one hundred feet. We lost one lead and 

 part of the line, but fortunately had duplicates. 



September 2. — At 9 a. m., thermometer, 78°; water, 18°; light south- 

 east winds ; thunder and lightning during the night, with rain. The 

 crew caught a number of young birds, and gathered eggs from the sand- 

 beach, while the old birds — a species of gull — flew over them, cried, and 

 darted down at the Indians' head as they made way with the young. Ma- 

 more was let out among them. As he put his paw playfully on a young 

 bird, the old ones were in swarms close over him, showing desperate 

 fight in defence of their young. The sand is gray and black, like the 

 rocks we saw yesterday. There are a few snags and sawyers in the 



