RESIDENCE AT TARAPOTO 77 
expecting for months from Para did not come till 
the end of the year, and by that time nearly all 
Peru was in a state of revolution. The first wave 
of insurgency rose in this very province, but was 
soon stilled. The Governor (Colonel Ortiz) was 
on his way from Tarapoto, where he had been so- 
journing a while, to Nauta, his usual place of abode. 
He went by way of the river Ucayali, and ere he 
could reach Nauta, the garrison of that place had 
deserted, and set off for Tarapoto by way of the 
Huallaga. From Nauta he pursued them, but 
they reached Tarapoto before him and took it 
without resistance. They got here by night, made 
the Commandant prisoner in his bed, and the small 
garrison left here by Colonel Ortiz deserted to the 
insurgents. It was festival time at Tarapoto, and 
the town was full of people. As day broke they 
were preparing to resume the festivities — for the 
insurrection had been accomplished so quietly that 
few but the actors knew of it — when all at once 
the cry arose Viene el rechitamiento ! " The 
horror of that word to a Peruvian may be compre- 
hended when I add that recruiting " in Peru is 
something like what the pressgang used to be in 
England, only much more barbarous. Somebody 
had caught sight of the soldiers' uniforms and at 
once concluded it to be a recruiting party. Im- 
mediately all was panic and confusion, and in less 
than an hour nearly the whole population was in 
full flight. As I sat with my door open, quietly 
working at my plants, I could see a continuous 
stream across the pampa of people laden with their 
household gods, as if emigrating ; and the drums, 
fiddles, and guitars which had been so noisy the 
