FROM MANAOS to TARAPOTO 5 
bank, a miserable place containing scarcely any 
houses but those of the garrison, though a little 
to the eastward, across a small valley, is a village 
of the Tucano Indians. The barracks consist of 
two small, low ranchos, and there is no fort, though 
I saw two or three pieces of cannon laid on the 
ground. The soil is clayey and the vegetation 
luxuriant. 
Early on the 29th we reached Loreto, the first 
town in Peru and decidedly better than Tabatinga, 
having some good houses. The white inhabitants, 
however (even the Governor), are Portuguese. 
March 30. — Coasting the south bank of the 
river, the land being somewhat high and settlements 
more frequent. The vegetation here was more 
new and striking than any I had seen during the 
voyage. A little inland grew a very handsome 
palm (Attalea), resembling the Palma Yagua of the 
Orinoco, but rather smaller and with pendulous 
bunches of small hard red fruits. 
Here I first saw the Bombonaji, a palmate-leaved 
Carludovica. It grows on steep red banks, and is 
submersed when the river is at its height. Several 
other trees in flower and fruit were quite new to me. 
In the afternoon we reached Cochiquina on the 
south bank, inhabited by Mayironas, that is, Indians 
from the Rio Mayo. At this season there is a 
small lagoon between it and the river which makes 
it difficult of access. The Indians are numerous, 
and apparently very submissive to the Gobernador 
(the only white inhabitant) and to their Curacas or 
chiefs, who go about with polished walking-sticks 
headed with silver. There are plenty of pigs and 
. fowls. The houses are kept in better repair and 
