i8 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
The animal food at Yurimaguas, besides pigs 
and fowls raised on the spot, is chiefly fish, game 
being very scarce. In the summer many large 
fish are obtained, but when the river is full only 
small ones can be had. 
About a quarter of a mile below Yurimaguas a 
deep valley enters on the west side called Parana- 
pura, which is the route to Balsapuerto and Moyo- 
bamba, and thence by Chuchapoyas and Truxillo 
to the coast. The navigation of the river is 
uncertain and perilous, not on account of rapids, 
of which there are hardly any, but because of its 
often rising a great height in a few hours (or even 
minutes) from the sudden swelling of mountain 
streams consequent on heavy rains. When in its 
best state the voyage from Yurimaguas to Balsa- 
puerto takes six days, but when full the current is 
very strong, and when low channels have to be 
dug through sandbanks, so that several weeks are 
sometimes required. 
A little way within the Paranapura there is 
a village a little larger than Yurimaguas called 
Muniches, which may be reached by a good track 
through the forest in four hours. This track 
crosses several elevations and valleys, each of the 
latter with a stream running in a sandy or pebbly 
bed. Along this track the land has been almost 
all formerly cultivated and there are still several 
fields of Yucas and Plantains. 
About the same distance above Yurimaguas 
there is a very similar but smaller stream called 
Chamusi, which affords a route to Tarapoto and 
Lamas, occupying usually six days, of which three 
are by water. But the Chamusi has the same 
