82 NOTES OF A BOTANIST chap. 
projecting roof of the house, or anywhere in the 
shade, turning a wheel with one hand ; and as he 
turns he gaily sings, or now and then munches at 
a truncheon of inguire (boiled green plantain) he 
holds in his other hand. An upright piece attached 
to the frame of the wheel carries one or several 
spindles, and from each spindle a woman spins 
away in a right line, all she has to do being to draw 
out the cotton (which she carries in little rolls in 
her girdle) to a uniform thickness. Here and there 
forked sticks, 6 or 7 feet long, are stuck up, over 
which the lengthening thread is passed, so that 
pigs and other animals running about may not get 
entangled in it. The work of spinning begins at 
daybreak, and as the morning mist rolls away 
hundreds of spinners are to be seen on the pampa 
— each crowned with her gay montera— drawing 
out their long gossamer lines. As the sun rises 
higher, and even the broad montera cannot wholly 
shade the spinner's face from the intense heat of his 
rays, the task is laid aside, to be resumed towards 
evening, and sometimes, when there is a bright 
moon, continued till a late hour. 
Cotton-spinning is the principal industry of the 
women of Tarapoto. The thread is remarkably 
strong, and is woven by the men into a coarse cloth 
called " tocuyo," which used formerly to be much 
exported to Brazil ; but latterly English and 
American unbleached cottons (called " tocuyo 
Inglez") have come hither so cheap that the 
native manufacture has greatly fallen off. 
