"I continued on E. ¼ N., and having navigated twelve miles, the north wind came on so strong, and raised such a sea, that I was in danger of shipwreck. I therefore landed, and remained twenty-four hours, employing the time in examining the mouth of the rivulet called Ibachuna, where there were large morasses.
"I travelled the next day with oars against the wind, bailing the water from the boat continually. The course was N. N. E.; and eighteen miles brought me to the point whence I originally sailed.
"The lake is of good and clear water. It has a bottom of oxide of iron, with 2½ fathoms (brazadas) of water. There are many fish and rays, crocodiles and porpoises.
"In the woods there are almonds of various kinds and superior quality. Towards the east there is another small lake called Puaja, whose waters (united with those of Rogoaguado and Yapacha) form the river Yatachico, or Black river, which is a confluent of the Mamoré. I presume the Yata Grande is only an arm of the Beni from the clearness of its waters, from the declivity of the land towards the Mamoré, and because its sources are not found in the Steppes, (Llanos) there only arising from these the Black river of the Lake Rogagua of Reyes, which is a confluent of the Beni.
"The navigation of the Yata Grande is a matter of interest; and I would have attempted it when I descended the Mamoré had I had at my disposal an armed party, which is absolutely necessary on account of the multitude of savages which dwell upon its banks; nevertheless, I did ascend to its first rapids, where there is an abundance of pitch. The Iruyani should be explored for the same reasons as the Yata Grande."
It was suggested by Mr. Pissis that I should take the route of the Beni on account of the honor of discovery, and the addition I should make to geographical knowledge; and General Ballivian, ex-President of Bolivia, who was then in Valparaiso forming plans for revolution in that country, which he afterwards endeavored to execute, but without success, strongly urged me to take one of the Bolivian rivers; but an unanswerable objection to this in my mind was, that such a route would bring me into the Amazon very low down, and make the necessity of ascending that river to its sources; a work which would occupy years in its execution, and probably break down a much stronger man than I am.
Upon my arrival in Lima, I immediately set to work to investigate routes. The best informed people of Peru are wide awake to the importance of opening an inland communication between their territories to the east of the Andes and the Atlantic, and many attempts have been made to secure the aid of government in the opening of such a communication. From time immemorial a jealousy has existed upon this subject between the people inhabiting points on the three most feasible routes; that is, that of the valley of Huanuco, that of Chanchamayo, and that of Paucartambo, to the eastward of Cuzco. This jealousy originated in the fact that the valley of Huanuco, the first settled, at one time supplied all the coca that was used in Peru. The people of that valley saw in the opening of the Montaña of Chanchamayo a rival interest that would decrease their gains, and at one time they had such interest at Court as to get an order dismantling the fort that had been built in Chanchamayo, and breaking up the roads. The Tarma people never forgave this, and in 1808 Urrutia, the Intendente of that province, addressed a pamphlet to Abascal, the Viceroy, setting forth the advantages of the Chanchamayo, and depreciating the Mayro or Huanuco route to the Montaña.
"Surely, surely," says he, (and I entirely agree with him,) "nothing but the especial concitation of the devil (thus interfering with the conversion of the heathen) could have induced the government to so suicidal a step as to break up so thriving a colony as that at Chanchamayo." He says that he can scarcely refrain from tears at thinking to what it would have grown in the twenty-five years that have been lost between then and now. He writes with earnestness; and probably would have succeeded in obtaining the aid of the government, but that the cloud of the revolution was then above the horizon, and Viceroy and Intendente soon had other matters to think of.
In 1827 General La Mar again ordered the opening of the Chanchamayo country. The direction of the work was given to my acquaintance and very good friend General Otero, then prefect of the department. He pushed the matter of opening the roads with success for some time; but the roughness of the country, the difficulty of obtaining supplies, and the steady hostility of the Indians, interposed so many obstacles, that the work languished and was finally abandoned; the Indians taking possession of the few plantations that had been made.
In 1847, however, the people of Tarma resolved to take advantage of so fine a country so near them. They republished the pamphlet of Urrutia; made an appeal to the government, and themselves broke into the country under the lead of Colonel Pablo Salaverry. They drove the Indians over the rivers of Chanchamayo and Tulumayo; and Don Ramon Castilla, the President, (ever alive to the interests of his country,) sent a company of eighty soldiers, under a captain in the navy named Noel, with engineers, artificers, tools and supplies, and constructed the little stockade fort of San Ramon, at the junction of these rivers. Under the protection of this fort the Tarma people have begun to clear and cultivate, and the former desert is now beautiful with the waving cane, the yellow blossom of the cotton, and the red berry of the coffee.