Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/398

348 red and the yellow, before the adventurous spirit of Bezares led him to penetrate its intricate forests?

The terrible obstacle on the side of the frontier having been surmounted, contrary to the expectations of those who were practically skilled in these undertakings, Bezares made the necessary advances to overcome another equally great. On the route between Chavin and Xican, which already held out the prospect of a considerable traffic by carriages and mules, two small islands, and several steep and rugged descents, intervened in a space of eight leagues, which were the terror of the passengers. The necessity of opening a new road by the bank of the Maranon, which there feebly direfts its course towards Chachapoyas, was thus pointed out; and this having been successfully accomplished, the passage across the islands and precipices was avoided, and the eight leagues above mentioned reduced to four commodious ones. To oppose an effectual barrier to the inundations of the river, a solid causeway was constructed with a kind of quadrilateral stones, several of them more than two yards in length, which Nature seemed to have formed with infinite care, and which were dug up in levelling the mountain. Bezares was now recalled to give an account of his useful and interesting operations to the viceroy, under whose auspices they will without doubt be prosperously continued.

A civilized Indian, but one accustomed, to an erratic life, of the description of those adverted to above, is represented in Plate XVII. clad in the poncho, the dress of the Indians of Peru before their subjugation by the Spaniards. This garment is made of wool, cotton, or flattened straw interwoven in a web of thread. On horseback, it is a defence for all ranks of Peruvians,