86 
NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
CHAP. 
mountains I have yet seen ; but here, where not 
even spade or pickaxe are used, much less has it 
ever been attempted to move a rock by gunpowder, 
what can be expected ? All that is generally done 
is to clear away the forest with axe and cutlass, and 
that often imperfectly, stumps of trees being often 
left some inches above the ground, while the 
branches and twiners overhead are cut away only 
to such a height as may be reached by an Indian, 
so that a tall horseman has to look out continually 
to save his head from entanglement. Rarely is any 
attempt made to level the road with a rude hoe, and 
the tropical rains are left to smooth or furrow it 
according to the locality. In steep hollow ascents 
logs are sometimes laid across, against which sand 
accumulates with the rains, and thus a sort of stair 
is formed. The idea of a cutting along the face of 
a declivity, or even the rudest bridge over the 
streams, never occurs to any one. No one is 
charged with the repair of the highways, and it is 
only once a year that the inhabitants of the pueblos 
clear the portions allotted to them, cutting away the 
brush that has accumulated. When a tree has fallen 
across the track, those who next pass that way make 
a fresh track through the forest around the fallen 
mass as best they may, for they rarely carry with 
them axes, or have time to spend an hour or two 
in clearing the road. Those who follow enlarge the 
track with their cutlasses, and thus one is continually 
coming on narrow and difficult turns. 
The principal road in Maynas is that leading 
from Tarapoto to Moyobamba, and thence to 
Chachapoyas. As fa»r as Moyobamba it is just 
practicable for horsemen, who, however, have to 
