CHAP. XVI RESIDENCE AT TARAPOTO 43 
the grunting of pigs, which chew the crushed 
canes as they are thrown out ; and very often the 
laughter and playful screams of boys and girls 
bathing in the stream. But when heavy rain falls 
on the hills to the northward, the swollen stream 
comes rushing down with a roar which drowns 
every other sound, bearing along with it logs and 
trunks of trees, and sometimes tearing loose from 
its banks a large mass of rock which falls with a 
thundering crash. At such times all communica- 
tion is suspended between the town and the 
village. The poor people who are returning from 
their farms on the opposite side, with their load 
of plantains or other vegetables, have then to wait 
perhaps a couple of hours shivering on the bank 
ere they can cross. Their natural apathy prevents 
the people from obviating this inconvenience by 
throwing a bridge across the narrow stream, which 
would be easily done, as the channel is in many 
places scarcely ten yards across, and the banks are 
so high that the adjacent ground is never inundated 
by the highest floods, which always subside a few 
hours after the rain ceases. A bridge was indeed 
commenced in 1856, but the foundations were so 
ill-laid that the first flood swept them away. 
At some seasons, especially during the rains, 
scarcely any colour but green, of various shades, 
can be discerned in the landscape, save that in the 
morning the lower part of the course of the Mayo 
and Cumbasa are marked by a line of hovering 
mist, and that a tall column of grey smoke may 
be seen rising in the forest from some newly-made 
clearing ; but a few sunny days after rain variegate 
the forest here and there with the flowers of 
