Up the Amazon and Madeira rivers, through Bolivia and Peru

by Edward D. Mathews

Having crossed the river, the track leaves the plains of the Mamoré and the Chapari, and soon commences to enter upon the mountainous districts called the Yungas of Espiritu Santo. The track so far is but a path cut through the forest, and is in wet weather quite impassable, from the depth of mud and the numerous holes in which mule and rider may easily come to grief. Over the hilly lands it has in former days been roughly paved in parts, after the fashion of old Spanish roads. Where this rough paving is absent the paths are much worn by the trampling of the mules, and by the drainage of the rains which hollows them out, so that at times one seems to be riding between two walls of earth.

After about seven hours’ ride, we arrived at a “pascana,” or stopping-place, in the Yungas, near the same river that we had crossed early in the morning; and the spot being convenient for a resting-place, we halted for the night, turning the mules loose to graze on the river-banks. This practice of loosing the mules at night causes great delay in starting on the following morning, but it is unavoidable until clearings are made in the forest, as the animals must be free to wander at will in the forest in search of the softer leaves, succulent plants, and small patches of grass, which is all they get after their day’s work, for the arrieros will not carry any corn with them, as it would occupy the place of a cargo, and so deprive them of so much freight.

On this part of the journey, a small tent that I had with me came in exceedingly useful, as without it I should have had to sleep at night exposed to the dews, which are very heavy, to say nothing of the rains, which fell frequently. A small ridge-shaped tent of striped cloth is easily carried on such a journey, as it requires two poles only, which should be jointed and form one package together with the pegs and ropes, whilst the cloth folds into another. The two packages just fit nicely between two portmanteaus, and complete one mule-burden. The tent-cloth should by all means be double, as the heavy rains soon soak through, and drip from a single cloth.

August 11th. We could not start till half-past seven in the morning, having had considerable trouble to get the mules together. The road keeps up the course of the San Antonio, into which it descends frequently, and these ascents and descents, or “cuestas,” as they are called, gave us some of the roughest riding I have ever had. When the hill to be surmounted is very high and steep, the path is cut in zig-zags, which were so short and of such sharp turns that when one mule was in the bend of one angle the next one in the file was immediately below, while the preceding one would be just overhead. However, I managed to ride the whole way, although it is the usual practice to climb these cuestas on foot, and drive one’s mule on ahead, after having made fast the bridle to the saddle; but I had to dismount once in crossing the river, when the mule had mounted a large stone in mid-stream, and was in danger of slipping; so I got down, and having coaxed her to descend into the stream again, was able to remount and complete the passage. The day was passed in this kind of rough work, and towards afternoon we came to patches of cleared lands and scattered houses in the district known as Espiritu Santo. Our third halt was made at one of these clearings, called “Cristal Maio,” situated at an elevation of 1920 feet above sea-level. These settlements are made by Bolivians of the type found throughout the interior of the republic, such as Cochabambinos, Pazeños, etc., as they are called according to the town or district from which they come. It is, however, only the Bolivians with any tinge of Spanish blood that are known by these names, as the pure Indians are all either Quichuans or Aymarás.

The principal proprietor of the district is a Señor Prado of Totora near Cochabamba, and by permission of his mayordomo, or head man, I put up for the night in one of his houses; and as I had during the day shot a fine large black monkey, we had a good supper for all hands. This mayordomo was at first inclined to refuse us permission to stay for the night on the lands under his care, and ordered us off, even going so far as to fetch a rusty old musket out, and threaten to shoot our mules, which my arriero had very imprudently let loose into a clearing of grass without permission; but upon my ordering the mules to be caught and tied up, he was pacified, and a little quiet persuasion, accompanied by a cigar and a “pinga” of “re-sacada” or nip of extra strong aguadiente from my travelling flask, together with the prospect of a share of our supper of roast monkey, procured us leave to hang up our hammocks in the house and turn the mules into the regular “largadero,” or grazing ground, along the river-bank.

Before night closed in I had a splendid bath in the torrent near at hand, and as all mosquitoes, marigueys, and other venomous flies have been left behind, it was highly enjoyable. Amongst the rocks in the bed of the torrent was a soft kind of marble, quite white and crystalline; there was also a slaty sort of limestone of an earthy nature, with thin white veins or bands of quartz; and there was evidence in the rusty look of many boulders that iron enters into the composition of many of the formations of the district, even if true ironstone is not to be found. A stone was given to me here which had bands of a soft black substance that seemed to me to be an inferior kind of plumbago, and I was told that there was a large deposit of this mineral in the neighbourhood.

Rain is said to be almost perpetual in this district, the months of August and September alone being blessed with a few fine days. The houses, in view of this constant rain, are built with roofs of very steep pitch, with an angle of sixty degrees perhaps; whilst the settlers who can afford the heavy cost have covered their houses with sheets of tin or zinc, brought at great expense from Cochabamba and the Pacific coast. The timbers used are extraordinarily heavy, in order that the violence of the wind in the frequent storms may not overturn the houses. A foundation wall of dry stone, raised about eighteen inches from the ground, is first placed, and on that a bed-plate of hard timber dressed with the axe to twelve or fourteen inches square, then the uprights and wall-plates to match complete a most solid framing. In many cases side walls are altogether absent, the only closed-up part being in the tall sloping roof. The wind has thus free passage through the lower part, and the house is not so easily overturned—a catastrophe which I was told frequently happens to houses with closed side walls.

The chief agriculture of the district is that of “coca,” the “cocales” or plantations of which seem to be the principal wealth of the settlers, as the best districts for the production of this valuable plant appear to be the eastern slopes of the northern hills of Bolivia. A very large trade in the article is carried on at most of the towns of the republic, but Totora appears to be the principal depôt. The plant is a small tree, allowed to grow to four or five feet in height, and planted in rows about eighteen inches apart, which are kept in excellent order. The leaves, which are narrow and about two or three inches in length, are collected carefully, dried in the sun on a prepared earthen or cement floor, and then, when pressed into “seroons,” are ready for dispatch to Totora, where they fetch from eleven to sixteen pesos the “sesta” of twenty-two pounds, say 1s. 7d. to 2s. 4d. per pound.

The use of coca is almost unknown to, and certainly not practised by the Indians of the plains of the Mamoré, but the Quichuan and Aymará Indians appear to be unable to exist without this stimulant, for it serves them in place of food and drink when driving their mules or llamas on the long journeys which separate the towns of the interior of the republic. These Indians carry, attached to their belts or waistbands, a small pouch with two compartments: in the larger the coca leaves are kept; whilst the other has a store of wood-ashes, a pinch of which is put into the mouth along with two or three of the leaves. The use of wood-ashes put me in mind of the East Indies, where a small quantity of lime or ashes is used along with the betel leaves and areca palm nut, the whole together forming the luxury for masticating called “Pan.” I heard some wonderful tales of the pedestrian powers of the Indians, and observed that the arrieros and others with whom I travelled always provided a store of coca amongst the first articles, when preparing for a journey. Any of these Indians will think nothing of keeping on the run all day behind the baggage-mules, and doing thirty or forty miles daily for weeks together. I cannot speak from personal experience of the beneficial effects of “coca-chewing” in staving off hunger, as on my journeys I have always been fortunate enough to have sufficient provision for the day’s requirements in my saddle-bags; and I must say that I always preferred even a hard biscuit, to say nothing of a hard-boiled egg or a snack of cold meat, to a chew of coca; so perhaps the few experiments I made were not sufficiently persevered in. There is very little if any taste in the coca leaf, the only flavour being such as well washed-out tea leaves would be likely to afford.