254 
TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. \_Marcli, 
obliged to stop half- way. They go along the road at a 
sort of run, stopping to rest twice only for a few minutes | 
each time. They go over the narrow bridges with the , 
greatest certainty, often two together, carrying heavy 
loads suspended from a pole between them. Besides i 
this, once or twice a year they all go in a body to clean 
the road as far as the middle, where there is a cross 
erected. The inhabitants of Maroa, Tomo, and other 
villages of the Rio Negro assemble to clean the other 
II 
half. One of these cleanings occurred while I was there. ! 
The whole village, men, women, and children, turned out, I 
the former carrying axes and cutlasses, the latter bundles | 
of switches to serve as brooms. They divided themselves 
into parties, going on to different parts of the road, and 
then worked to meet each other. The men cut down 
all overhanging or fallen trees which obstructed the way, 
and cleared off all the brushwood and weeds which were | j 
growing up on the sides. The women and girls andvf 
boys carried these away, and swept clean with their j 
switch brooms all the dead leaves and twigs, till the j 
whole looked quite neat and respectable. To clear up | 
a road five miles in length in this manner was no trifle, 
but they accomplished it easily and very thoroughly in ; 
two days. 
A little while after, the men again turned out, to make ! 
new bridges in several places where they had become | 
decayed. This was rather a laborious task. Large trees -f 1 1 
had to be cut down, often some distance from the spot;® | 
they were then roughly squared or flattened on top and ■! 
bottom, and with cords of withes and creepers, and with® 
numerous round sticks and logs placed beneath forf^ 
