XVI RESIDENCE AT TARAPOTO 39 
descendants of two powerful tribes of Indians who 
occupied the same site when the first whites came 
from Lamas, about seventy years ago, to found Tara- 
poto. Looking over the pueblo from my house, I 
am reminded by the general aspect of an English 
village in some agricultural district, though the 
accessories are different. Here and there in the 
forest (which is mostly low, though there are a few 
lofty relics of the old primeval woods) are verdant 
spots whereon pasture various domestic animals : 
horses, mules, cows, pigs, turkeys and other fowls. 
On their margins, or from amid the forest, peep 
out the straw roofs of cottages, often accompanied 
by plantain gardens and by orange and other fruit 
trees. Beyond the pueblo stretches a plain towards 
the S.E. and S., while towards the E. and N.E. 
the ground gently rises, to fall again into the deep 
valley of the Aguashiyacu. The plain is bounded 
by a low ridge of Lamas shales, whereon a red 
loam predominates and gives to the ridge the 
appellation of Puca-lama. A broad red road is 
seen winding over it which leads to the fields and 
gardens of Aguashiyacu. 
The track leading to Chasuta passes through 
the village of Cumbasa in an easterly direction. 
After crossing the Aguashiyacu it emerges on a 
very wide plain of loose sand, covered chiefly with 
coarse grasses and low scattered trees. ^ This 
pajonal (open campo) is not visible from Tarapoto, 
but it extends nearly to Puca-yacu. Immediately 
across this stream and a little more than two 
1 Among these are Curatella amencana, a Tecoma with yellow flowers, 
a strange-looking Tiliacea, and a prickly Xanthoxylum which gives out an 
abominable >dour of bugs when bruised. 
