ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
some interesting hot springs were to be found. A ridge 
ran from southeast to northwest in symmetrical undula¬ 
tions up to 1,000 feet from Petronilla to Cancha Huayo. 
It rose quite abruptly from the flat alluvial land. Where 
a land-slide had occurred, it showed an upper stratum of 
grey alluvial deposit ten feet thick, with soft, yellow 
volcanic rock underneath, in a stratum thirty feet thick. 
It seemed as if that hill had been lifted up by volcanic 
pressure from underneath, as a lot of white and yellow 
sand had been brought to the surface, which evidently 
formed a substratum in the Ucayalli region. 
We found strong whirlpools where the channel of the 
river formed an elbow at the foot of the mountain. The 
steam launch made poor progress against the current. 
On January seventh we arrived at the large settlement 
of Condamano, a sub-prefecture in the big province of 
Loreto. There were two parallel streets, clean and well 
kept, with others intersecting at right angles. On the 
main street along the water front were many large com¬ 
mercial houses, handsome buildings of cana walls and zinc 
roofs. The place had been built on a flat high land about 
thirty feet above the river, and had some 1,500 to 2,000 
inhabitants. One of the peculiarities of Condamano was 
that during the rubber-collecting season the population 
consisted almost entirely of women, as the men were in 
the forest collecting the latex. 
We arrived there on a feast day — they have more 
feast days than working days in the week in that country 
— and the streets were alive with monks and soldiers, the 
only men who do not go collecting rubber. Women and 
girls, in flesh-coloured stockings and lace mantillas, flocked 
out of the church, each carrying a small carpet which they 
used to prevent spoiling their finery when kneeling. 
On leaving Condamano we came to the northwesterly 
end of the range we had seen the day before. It ended 
abruptly in almost vertical walls of yellow sandstone of 
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