Life of Rear Admiral John Randolph Tucker

by James Henry Rochelle

In February, 1873, the Mayro, with a detachment of the Commission on board, was dispatched from Iquitos, with orders to await at the mouth of the Pachitea river the coming of the Tambo. Tucker embarked on board the Tambo on the 1st of April with the main body of the Commission, and arrived at the confluence of the Pachitea and Ucayali, seven hundred and sixty-five miles from Iquitos, on the 13th of May. The river had commenced to fall, which rendered it prudent not to ascend the Pachitea in steamers, for had one of them got aground whilst the water was falling, it would probably have remained in that situation until the next annual rise of the river.

The water of the Amazon, and the same may be said of all its tributaries, begins to rise about October, and continues to increase its flood until December. In December there is a short period of no rise, or perhaps even a slight fall, after which the river again continues to rise until May, when the permanent fall commences and continues until the following October, when the annual flood again sets in. Sand bars are constantly forming and shifting in the channel of the river, and for a steamer to run on one of them whilst the water is falling endangers the detention of the vessel until she is floated off by the annual rise in October.

The annual fall of the river having set in when the Tambo reached the mouth of the Pachitea, Tucker determined to continue the expedition in canoes. Six of the largest and best canoes that could be procured from the Indians were fitted out, and the whole Commission embarked in them, accompanied by its escort of a dozen Peruvian soldiers under the command of Major Ramon Herrera.

From the 19th to the 30th of May the Commission prosecuted its survey of the Pachitea without interruption, but on the 30th, at a place called Cherrecles Chingana, fifteen or twenty Cashibo Indians came down to the left or north bank of the river, and by signs and gestures signified a desire for friendly communication. The canoes were paddled in to them, and some few presents of such articles as could be spared were distributed among them, and, apparently, received most thankfully. But the Cashibos did not let the occasion pass without showing the treachery for which they are notorious. When the interview was ended, seemingly in the most amicable manner, and as the canoes of the Commission were paddling off, a flight of arrows was discharged at them by a party of Cashibos who had been lying in ambush during the interview. A few volleys from the Remington rifles, with which all the members of the Commission were armed, soon dispersed the savages and drove them to the jungle.

Of all the savage tribes that roam about the head waters of the Ucayali, the Cashibos alone are cannibals. They are brave, cunning and treacherous, and are only surpassed by the Campas in their hatred of the white man. The Campas inhabit the spurs and hills at the foot of the eastern Cordilleras, where the Ucayali and Pichis rivers have their origin. They are a fierce, proud and numerous tribe, and are held in great fear by their lowland neighbors. They permit no strangers, especially no whites, to enter their country, and the members of the expedition under Tucker were the first white men who ever ascended the Pichis into the regions of this warlike tribe.

The canoes of the expedition entered the mouth of the Pichis on the 6th of June. Being an unknown river, it became necessary to give names to the prominent points as they were discovered; and these names were used subsequently in making the charts of the surveys of the Commission.

The navigation of the Pichis was found to be clear and unobstructed from its mouth for a distance of fifteen miles up to Rochelle Island, which is in latitude 9° 57' 11" south, longitude 75° 2' 0" west of Greenwich, and three thousand one hundred miles from the Atlantic coast, following the course of the Amazon river. Rochelle Island was reached on the 7th of June, and was named after Captain James Henry Rochelle, the senior member of the Commission. Any steamer which can navigate the Pachitea can ascend the Pichis this far without difficulty, but above Rochelle Island the navigation becomes more difficult, and probably impracticable for any but steamers of very light draught and strong steam power.

On the 15th of June the expedition arrived at the head of canoe navigation on the Pichis. The point was named Port Tucker, after the president of the Commission. Port Tucker is in latitude 10° 22' 55" south, longitude 74° 49' 0" west of Greenwich, distant three thousand one hundred and sixty-seven miles from the mouth of the Amazon, following the course of the river, and one hundred and ninety miles in a direct line from the Pacific coast. The lofty mountains so plainly in sight from Port Tucker are the eastern spurs of the Andes, the chosen land of the savage and numerous Campas Indians.

Several days before the expedition reached the shoals which terminate the navigation of the Pichis, the tom-toms or drums of the Campas were heard night and day beating the assembly of the warriors. The purpose for which the braves were to be assembled was not a matter about which there was the least doubt, but probably sufficient numbers were not got together in time to execute their intentions, for no attack was made on the Commission whilst it was in the Campas country.

During this expedition the Palcazu river was also ascended to Port Prado, or Puerto del Mairo, the head of navigation for steamers of light draught. Port Prado is in latitude 9° 55' 22" south, longitude 75° 17' 45" west of Greenwich, distant three thousand one hundred and nineteen miles from the mouth of the Amazon, following the river, and only about forty miles from the important interior city of Huanaco, to which place it is in contemplation to extend the trans-Andean railway. If the road were continued from Huanaco to Port Prado there would be a complete trans-continental line of communication by railway and steamboats from Lima in Peru to the mouth of the Amazon.