Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/476

418 Hibitos, supplied four canoes, which set out at noon, and at half past one reached the port and town of del Valle, containing a population of 372 souls, whence our travellers proceeded to within a small distance of the great shoals of Sabaloyaco, to steer clear of the perils of which it was necessary to discharge the canoes, and to drag them overland, by the eastern bank, a distance of about half a mile. This task was performed in an hour; when the canoes again setting out, approached Cachiluanusca at four in the afternoon. To avoid this difficult pass it was necessary to direct the canoes by the right bank, or, for still greater security, to drag them along it with cords, but without discharging them. This was safely accomplished on the 13th at six in the morning, when the canoes proceeded to the mouth of the Huayabamba, and thence to the port of Pachisa, where there is a small Indian town, the inhabitants of which, one hundred in number, were brought from Pagaten, and settled at the confluence of the Huayabamba with the Huallaga, in consequence of that place being at too great a distance to be useful to navigators. At eight in the morning of the 14th the voyage was prosecuted with three canoes belonging to Pachisa, and two from Tarapoto and Cumbasa, which had been expressly stationed at Pachisa by the Lamas missionaries. After a navigation of twelve leagues, the party reached Pilloana, a hill which runs north and south on the eastern bank of the Huallaga, and which is covered to the extent of a mile with salt springs of an excellent quality. Here our travellers spent the night; and on the 15th, at eight in the morning, again set forward. At eleven o’clock they reached the confluence of the Moyobamba with the Huallaga; and, following the rapid course of the former of these two rivers, to the west, and afterwards to the south, arrived at two in the afternoon at the port of Juan de Guerra, situated on the right bank. From the port of Juan de Guerra to the towns of Tarapoto and Cumbasa, the distance does not exceed four leagues by land over a very fertile plain. These towns are separated by a small river, and contain conjointly a population of upwards of sixteen hundred souls, Spaniards, Mestizos, and Indians, all of them very robust and laborious. Their principal employment consists in the weaving of cotton stuffs of different qualities. In the vicinity of