TRAVELS OF THE MISSIONARIES. 



417 



care, by distributnin; toys among the women, and agricultural implements among 

 the men. The latter were most acceptable presents to Indians, whose sole felicity 

 consisted in possessing a bit of iron, by the help of which they might break up 

 the ground that served to clad and nourish them. 



On the 2d of August, father Sobreviela caused three canoes to be got ready by 

 the Indians of Playa-Grande, and embarked at eight in the morning, accompanied 

 by father Joseph Lopez, secretary of visitation, on the river Patayrrondos. At 

 noon they reached the river Monzon, and at half past nine in the evening the 

 Huallaga, following the course of this navigation to the confluence of the river 

 Tulumayo, which flows into it at the right bank. The progress made this day was 

 eight leagues, which were accomplished in six hours, the rest of the time being 

 taken up by the necessary stops, and the difiiculties encountered in the navigation. 

 On the 3d, at day break, the Indians betook themselves to their oars ; and on the 

 evening of the 5th the company reached an inlet, on the left bank of which, at a 

 place named la Cruz, they passed the night. Deducing the time spent in re- 

 pasts, &c. a distance of twenty leagues was performed in eight hours*. On the 

 4th the canoes were put afloat at the same hour as on the preceding day, and, 

 •with their accustomed velocity, reached on the 6th. in the evening the port of 

 Pampa-hermosa, at two leagues distance from which, by a pleasant and spacious 

 road, is an Indian town containing a population of 270 souls. Here father So- 

 bi'eviela employed himself until the Sth in the same way as at Playa-Grande ; and 

 also in contriving to bring the population nearer to the banks of the Huallaga, and 

 in making other small settlements at the confluence of the river Uchisa, to the 

 end that, throughout the whole of the course of the Huallaga, navigators might 

 at all times find habitations in which to repose. 



On the 9th, instead of the canoes of Playa-Grande, others were provided at 

 Pampa-hermosa, and the company setting out at nine in the morning, reached at 

 four in the afternoon the port of Sion, having performed a distance of fifteen 

 leagues. The 10th and 11th were employed by father Sobreviela m his customary 

 visits, and in numbering the inhabitants of Sion, whose population was found to 

 amount to 205 souls. On the 12th the Indians of Sion, belonging to the tribe of 



* According to this computation, the navigation performed was between two and three leagues an 

 hour ; a remarkable celerity, when it is considered that Monsieur Condamine did not make a greater 

 progress in his rapid passage througli the strait of Manseriche, notwithstanding he navigated on rafts, 

 which, presenting a smaller superficies to the resistance of the water than canoes, partake less of the im- 

 pulse and velocity of the currents. 



3 H Hibitosj 



