FROM MANAOS TO TARAPOTO 17 
sleep, are made of the Tarapoto palm [Iriartea 
ventricosa) split and flattened out into slabs. These 
beds are raised about 3 feet from the ground. A 
mat of one or more layers of Tururi (bark cloth) 
is laid on the barbacoa, and the whole is enclosed 
in a quadrilateral bag of Tocuyo (a coarse native 
cotton cloth), supported on a framework of reeds, to 
serve as a mosquito curtain. It effectually keeps out 
insects but is very hot. Benches, both inside and 
outside the houses, are made in the same way, but the 
latter sometimes of an old canoe, the bottom form- 
ing the seat and one side the back, like a settle. 
The industry of Yurimaguas, besides the salting 
of fish, which is done during summer, is chiefly the 
fabrication of painted ollas and cuyas (pots and 
calabashes), and numerous old calabash trees scat- 
tered about the pueblo form one of its most 
picturesque features. 
The Padre's house is much better than the rest 
— built as in Brazil on a framework of rods filled in 
with clay, and painted white, outside and in, with 
gypsum. It contains several tables, the tops of 
which are single slabs, one 4 feet across. The 
rooms are ceiled with Cana brava, closely laid 
across the beams and covered above with a thin 
layer of clay. 
A peculiar utensil seen here and elsewhere in 
Maynas is a large flat shallow dish, of the form of 
the tin vessels used by gold-washers ; it is made of 
the sapopema of some light -wooded tree, and I 
have seen one above 5 feet in diameter. It is 
used chiefly for crushing maize with a stone for the 
fabrication of chicha (native beer), but is also used 
for grinding coffee, etc. 
VOL. II c 
