376 



THE UPPER AMAZONS 



hundred head of which are kept grazing in the streets by 

 the townsfolk. Every morning, soon after daybreak, 

 the women are seen paddhng off in montarias to their 

 daily labours in these rocas or clearings ; the mistresses of 

 households with their groups of Indian servant girls. The 

 term agriculture cannot be applied to this business ; in 

 this primitive country plough, spade, and hoe are un- 

 known even by name. The people idle away most part 

 of the time at their ro^as, and have no system when they do- 

 work, so that a family rarely produces more than is re- 

 quired for its own consumption. 



The half-caste and Indian women, after middle age, are 

 nearly all addicted to the use of Ypadu, the powdered 

 leaves of a plant (Erythroxylon coca) which is well known 

 as a product of the eastern parts of Peru, and is to the 

 natives of these regions what opium is to the Turks and 

 betel to the Malays. Persons who indulge in Ypadu at 

 Ega are held in such abhorrence, that they keep the 

 matter as secret as possible ; so it is said, and no doubt 

 with truth, that the slender result of the women's daily 

 visits to their ro^as, is owing to their excessive use of this 

 drug. They plant their little plots of the tree in retired 

 nooks in the forest, and keep their stores of the powder in 

 hiding-places near the huts which are built on each planta- 

 tion. Taken in moderation, Ypadu has a stimulating and 

 not injurious effect, but in excess it is very weakening, 

 destroying the appetite, and producing in time great 

 nervous exhaustion. I once had an opportunity of seeing 

 it made at the house of a Maraua Indian on the banks of 

 the Jutahi. The leaves were dried on a mandioca oven, 

 and afterwards pounded in a very long and narrow wooden 

 mortar. When about half -pulverised, a number of the 

 large leaves of the Cecropia palmata (candelabrum tree) 

 were burnt on the floor, and the ashes dirtily gathered up 

 and mixed with the powder. The Ypadu-eaters say that 

 this prevents the ill-effects which would arise from the 

 use of the pure leaf, but I should think the mixture of so 

 much indigestible filth would be more likely to have the 

 opposite result. 



We lived at Ega, during most part of the year, on turtle. 

 The great fresh- water turtle of the Amazons grows on the 

 upper river to an immense size, a full-grown one measuring 

 nearly three feet in length by two in breadth, and is a 

 load for the strongest Indian. Every house has a little 



