On May 7th we rose to find only a few bread-crumbs in the corner of our bag, and, as famine was thus knocking at the door, it became necessary to beat a hasty retreat. The plants were carefully packed in layers of moss, and sown up in two bundles of Russia matting, which we had brought with us, containing about 200 chinchona-plants. In the absence of Andres Vilca, Mr. Weir showed much zeal and energy in undertaking to carry one of these bundles, four and a half feet in circumference, over the slippery and dangerous road, in doing which he fell into the river.
On the morning of May 7th, when we commenced our retreat, it was pouring with rain, and the forest was saturated, our bodies sodden, our hands crumpled like washerwomen's, and our powder damp. We had to wade across many little streams falling into the Tambopata. The first, after leaving the Yana-mayu, was called Churu-bamba, because it empties itself just opposite an island (churu, in Quichua). The next stream was Uma-yuyu, uma being water in Aymara, and yuyu a plant with a large cordate dock-like leaf, used in chupes. Thus every little stream and hill had received a name from the cascarilleros of former times, from some peculiarity of position or other similar circumstance, which would easily impress it on the memory. What an improvement on the nomenclature in new countries discovered by Englishmen, where we have an endless succession of Jones's rivers, Smith's mountains, and Brown's islands! Near the banks of these streams there are very large snail-shells, and Martinez described the snails as "large kind of hornets, all made of flesh, which do not sting." He called them Mamachuru, or "Mother of the Island."
On reaching the precipice of Ccasa-sani we scrambled along its slippery sides, in the pouring rain, to collect plants of C. Calisaya, and obtained twenty-one good ones. They were growing in a similar situation to those above the Yana-mayu, in company with a number of Aceite de Maria trees (Elæagia Mariæ),[340] and completely exposed to the sun, without any shade whatever. Passing the precipice, we continued our damp weary journey, Martinez pointing out everything that was noticeable by the way, especially the palo santo (Guaiacum sanctum), a very tall tree, the stem 60 to 70 feet high, without a branch, with a few short horizontally spreading branches at the summit, with pinnate leaves. When the bark is cut, a host of stinging ants come forth. There was also a plant, which he called achira silvestre (Canna achira?) with a rhizome, and bunches of rank red berries. We passed through groves of paccays (Mimosa Inga), a creeping legume with bright flowers, wild coca, many Lasionemas, with their large coarse leaves drooping over the river, and a melastomaceous plant with a crimson fruit. After having been nearly carried away by the force of the Challuma river, in wading across it, I reached Gironda's hospitable shed, after a journey of more than thirty miles, in pouring rain.
On May 8th I left Gironda's clearing, with Martinez, in order to examine the forests above the hut of Tambopata, for plants of C. Calisaya. Here, in almost exactly a similar ridge of rock to those which proved so prolific of these precious plants on the heights above the Yana-mayu, and on the precipice of Ccasa-sani, I found a number of plants of Calisaya morada (C. Boliviana, Wedd.), growing out of moss, amongst the rocks, with scarcely any soil. They were overshadowed by numerous trees, called by Martinez "Compadre[341] de Calisaya" (Gomphosia chlorantha, Wedd.), one of the most graceful and beautiful of the chinchonaceous plants, with deliciously sweet flowers. Dr. Weddell exactly describes it as rising without a branch above all the trees of the forest, and then spreading out in the form of a chandelier, and attracting the attention of the traveller from afar. The bark of this tree, with its transverse cracks, can with difficulty be distinguished from that of C. Calisaya. Whilst climbing amongst these rocks, I nearly put my hand on a small viper of a most venomous kind, 18 inches long, with a black skin marked with yellow rings, edged with white. In the evening we returned to Gironda's clearing at Lenco-huayccu, with eighty-seven chinchona-plants, sixteen of Calisaya fina (C. Calisaya, var. α vera), and sixty-nine of Calisaya morada (C. Boliviana, Wedd.).
We found Gironda, on whom we were now entirely dependent for food, very little better off than ourselves. His supplies consisted of maize, yucas, aracachas, chuñus or frozen potatoes, and quispiñas, made of boiled quinoa-grains dried in the sun, ground, and preserved as little gritty hard lumps. He also had some achocches, which are poor watery cucurbitaceous things, squeezed, and served up in chupes. No salt.
Though frequently baffled, and more than once exposed to much risk in making vain attempts, I had never given up my determination to have at least one day's work on the right bank of the Tambopata. For some days the volume of water had been gradually decreasing, but it was still 40 yards across, and rushing with great velocity over a ford which Gironda believed to exist a little below Lenco-huayccu. I stripped and went in, with the stem of a young chonta palm as a support, but, on approaching the mid-channel, the water came up above my middle, the large pebbles slipped and rolled under my feet, and for some time it was with the utmost difficulty that I held my own; but finally we all reached the right bank in safety.
We were rewarded by a very successful day's work. After ascending the steep ravine, through the zone of bamboos, to a height of 400 feet, we reached a ridge of rocks, where we collected 109 good chinchona-plants of the Calisaya morada species. The leaves of the chinchonæ, and more especially the Calisaya species, are invariably perforated by holes in every direction. Much of this mischief is the work of caterpillars, but it may partly be attributed to the effects of drip from the trees which overshadow them. In this forest there were trees of great height, without a branch for a distance of 50 or 60 feet from the ground, which Martinez called canela. The inner bark had a strong taste of cinnamon, and they use it to scent and flavour their huarapu, or fermented juice of the sugar-cane. On many trees, in the forest, there are immense masses of earth fixed on the trunk, called cotocuro. They consist of exceedingly thin layers, one added to another until they are sometimes of an immense size, eight to ten feet high, and three or four feet across. They are made by myriads and myriads of small yellowish lice, which swarm between each thin layer.
In the evening we incurred the same risks in wading across the river again, but arrived without any accident at Gironda's clearing, where we now had a depôt of 436 chinchona-plants.
On May 10th I resolved to make a search on the heights immediately above Lenco-huayccu, called Gloriapata, for the valuable red-nerved variety of C. ovata. I first paid a visit to the poor little Indian wife and children of Martinez at Huaccay-churu, in a hut of split bamboos, surrounded by aracachas, yucas, camotes with their white convolvulus flowers, plantains, frijoles or beans, and the Amaranthus caudatus, which they call jataccu and cuimi, using the leaves in chupes. We then struck right up the steep declivity of Gloriapata, making our way with difficulty through the dense bamboo thickets, which, in spite of their obstinate obstructiveness, make excellent cisterns, and their joints will always afford a good drink of cool water. For some time we followed a pathway made by a herd of peccaries, until it ended at the mouth of a cave which, though low, appeared to be of considerable size. These peccaries come down in herds of thirty or forty to the clearings, during the night, and do much damage amongst the roots. Some are black and white, and others of a leaden colour.
After ascending for several hundred feet we came to trees of C. pubescens, which appear to belong to a zone just below, but in contact with the C. ovatæ. Their leaves were eaten by a caterpillar, red at both ends, with a horn, red stripe down the back, and red spots on each side, body striped green and yellow. Some hundred feet higher there were large trees of both varieties of C. ovata, growing in very moist parts of the forest, where the trees were covered with Hymenophylla and dripping moss, the former a sure sign of extreme humidity. The ground was covered with fallen leaves to a great depth, and there was a good deal of shade. We collected seven plants of C. ovata, var. α vulgaris, and eleven of C. ovata, var. β rufinervis, five of which were strong healthy seedlings, the remainder being suckers, with spreading roots of their own. With the C. ovatæ grows the Carhua-carhua chica (Cascarilla bullata, Wedd.).