Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon/Volume 2

by Lardner Gibbon, Lieutenant, U.S.N.

 

32d Congress, } SENATE. {Executive, {No. 36. 2d Session }

EXPLORATION

OF THE

VALLEY OF THE AMAZON,

MADE UNDER DIRECTION OF

THE NAVY DEPARTMENT,

BY

WM. LEWIS HERNDON AND LARDNER GIBBON,

LIEUTENANTS UNITED STATES NAVY.

PART II.

BY LT. LARDNER GIBBON.

WASHINGTON:

A. O. P. NICHOLSON, PUBLIC PRINTER.

1854.

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,

TRANSMITTING

THE SECOND PART OF LIEUTENANT HERNDON’S REPORT OF THE EXPLORATION OF THE VALLEY OF THE AMAZON.

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March 3,1853.—Ordered that 10,000 additional copies be printed for the use of the Senate.

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

I herewith transmit a communication from the Secretary of the Navy, accompanied by the second part of Lieut. Herndon’s Report of the Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon and its tributaries, made by him, in connexion with Lieut. Lardner Gibbon, under instructions from the Navy Department. FRANKLIN PIERCE. Washington, February 10, 1854.

Navy Department, February 10, 1854.

To the President.

Sir: In compliance with the notice heretofore given and communicated to Congress at its last session, I have the honor herewith to transmit the second part of the Report of the “Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon, made under the direction of the Navy Department, by William Lewis Herndon and Lardner Gibbon, lieutenants of the United States navy.”

The first part of the exploration referred to was transmitted to Congress by the Executive on the 9th of February, 1853, and has been printed. (See “Senate Executive No. 36, 32d Congress, 2d session.”) The second part, which completes the report, is the result of the labors of Lieutenant Lardner Gibbon, after his separation at Tarma, on the 20th June, 1851, from Lieutenant Herndon, the senior officer of the exploring party.

I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, your obedient servant, J. C. DOBBIN.

iv. CORRESPONDENCE Washington, D. C, February 7, 1854.

Sir: I have the honor to submit, herewith, a report of an exploration of the countries drained by certain tributaries of the Amazon, made by Lieutenant Gibbon during the years 1851-’52.

It will be recollected by the department that, at Tarma, in Peru, I divided my party, and confided a portion of it to Mr. Gibbon’s direction. This report is the result of Mr. Gibbon’s labors consequent upon that division, and will form Part II of the “Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon.”

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, WM. LEWIS HERNDON, Lieutenant U. S. Navy.

Hon. James C. Dobbin, Secretary of the Navy, Washington.

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CHAPTER I.

Tarma — Inca road — Juaja valley — Quechua Indians — Trade — Juaja river — Snow mountains — Stone bridge and stone coal — Temperature of springs — Llamas — Lieutenant of police — Quicksilver mines of Huancavelica — Wool growing — Molina Posta, or Country tavern — Silver mines of Castro — Virreyna — Population of Huancavelica — Its mineral productions — Sand-stone pyramids — Chicha and chupe — A New-Englander among the Andes — Fruits and flowers of Huanta — Blacksmiths

CHAPTER II.

Gold and silver ornaments — Bridal trip on the Andes — Manufacturers of bark rope — Cotton trees — Winds and currents of the mountains — Population — Cultivation — Flocks of sheep — Frosty nights — Reports of Robbers — Shoemaker — Ancient fortification — Indians travelling — Condor’s wings — A padre on the road — Sugar-cane patches — Spanish Creoles — An African slave — Apurimac bridge — Cabbage patch — Peruvian widow — Bull fight — Fish and horned cattle — Cuzco — Market place — Steamboat navigation — Eastern side of the Andes — Coca plantations — Head of Madre-de-Dios — Rivers Cosnipata, Tono and Pinipini — Forests — Tigers — Monkeys — Chuncho savages — View of the lowlands from a peak of the Andes — Cinchona bark gatherer

CHAPTER III.

College of Sciences and Arts at Cuzco — Students — Library — Popularity of Fenimore Cooper’s works — Convents — Cock-pits — Procession — Condition of the Aborigines anterior to the Incas — Manco Cápac and his wife — Their language — Antiquities — Incas fortress — Worship of the planetary bodies — Suspicion of intercourse between ancient civilized Asia and south Peru — Temperature of bull’s blood — Reception of the prefect’s family — Sham fight among the Quechua Indians — Barley and corn crops — Trade — Loss of Paititi — Thermal springs — Hospitality of a Cura — Lampa — Goldmines of Carabaya — Lake Titicaca — Appearance of the Indians — Puno military — Niggardly soil

CHAPTER IV.

Manto silver mine — Trade — Shores of Lake Titicaca — Rush balsas — Animals — Loftiest mountains — Aymara Indians — Mode of cultivation — Bottled fish — Frontier of Peru — Rio Desaguedero — Rush bridge — Bolivia military and custom-house — Southeast trade winds — Tiahuanaco ruins — Evaporation and precipitation — Planting small potatoes — Difficulty among postillions — City of La Paz — Population — Cinchona bark — Beni river and Madeira Plate — Transit duty — Gold washings of Tipuani — Productions of Yungas — Dried mutton and copper mines — Articles of the last constitution — A Bolivian lady’s opinion of North Americans — Illimani snow peak — Church performances of the Aymaras — Benenguela silver mines — Growth of cedar bushes.

CHAPTER V.

Silver mines of Sicasica — Productions of the Puna, or Table lands — An exile returning home — Department of Oruro — Silver, copper, and tin — Climate — A chichafactorer — The expedition out of Titicaca Basin, and into Madeira Plate — Department of Potosi — Population, climate, and productions — Rio Pilcomayo — Mint — Quicksilver trade — Imperfect mining operations — Smuggling of precious metals — Statistics of silver — Trade with the Argentine confederation — Port of Cobija — Desert of Atacama — Eastern side of the Andes — Frosty mountain tops and thermal streams — A washwoman — Cinchona bark ascending to the South Pacific — Department of Cochabamba — Increase of Creoles — Incas colony of Quechua Indians — Hail storm — Gardens — Fig trees — City of Cochabamba — Hospitality of the merchants — The President of Bolivia and his cabinet — Commercial proposition — Brazilian minister — President Belzu — Cavalry and infantry — Armor of the Bolivian troops — Public force — Calacala gardens — Market people — Rio Mamoré — Legislative power — Church ceremony — Climate — A bishop’s opinion of the consequences of steamboat navigation — Cabinet ministers — Reception of a Farmer by the President — Heavy shock of an earthquake — Sudden departure of the government — Clisa fair — Trade to the Pacific coast.

CHAPTER VI.

Market place — Cinchona bark — Funeral ceremonies — Longevity — Kindness of British and Brazilian ministers — French schoolmistresses — Ancient habitations — Sucre, the capital — Departments of Chuquisaca and Tarija — River Bermejo — Distribution of vegetable life — Visit to Lake Uara-uara — Snowline — Balls — Theatre — Department of Santa Cruz — Creole population — Daily life — Province of Chiquitos — Indians — Labors of the Jesuits — Paraguay river

CHAPTER VII.

Diamonds — Animals of Chiquitos — Decree of 1837, and act of Congress — Señor Oliden’s voyage on the Paraguay river — Salt — Fall of trees — Descending the mountains — Monkey meat — Coca plant — Espiritu Santo — Creole workmen — A night in the wild woods — Yuracares hunting — River San Mateo — Province of Yuracares.

CHAPTER VIII.

Cinchona forests — Indians shooting fish — Department of the Beni — Vinchuta — Smallpox — Canichanas boat’s crew — Cotton cloth and silver coins — Our faithful servant José Casas and the mules — Trade at Vinchuta — A night on Coni creek — Embarkation at the base of the Andes — Chapare river — Canoe life — Floods — Bark cloth — Pick up the sick — Indians at prayers in the wilderness — Lassoing an alligator

CHAPTER IX.

Pass the mouth of Chimore river — White cranes — Rio Mamoré — Woodbridge’s Atlas — Night-watch — Masi guard-house — Pampas — Ant-houses — Cattle — Religion — Sugar cane — Fishing party of Mojos Indians — River Ybaré — Pampas of Mojos — Pasture lands — City of Trinidad — Prefect — Housed in Mojos — Don Antonio de Barras Cordoza — Population of the Beni — Cotton Manufactures — Productions — Trade — Don Antonio’s Amazonian boats — Jesuits — Languages — Natural intelligence of the Aborigines — Paintings — Cargoes of foreign goods in the plaza

CHAPTER X.

Horned cattle and horses — Peste — Salt trade — Church service — Bull fight — Mariano Cuyaba — Rules and regulations of the town — Laws and customs of the Creoles — A walk through the plaza at midnight — Scenes on the road to the town of Loreto — Annual deluge — The beasts, birds, and fishes — Loreto — Inhabitants — Grove of tamarind trees — Winds of the Madeira Plate — A bird-hunter — Trapiche — A black tiger burnt out — Departure in Brazilian boats — Enter the Mamoré river again — An Indian overboard

CHAPTER XI.

Exaltacion — Cayavabo Indians — Descending the Mamoré river — Indians shooting fish — Houbarayos savages and birds at midnight — Ascend the Itenez river — Forte do Principe da Beira, in Brazil — Negro soldiers — Kind attention of the commandante — Favorable notice of the expedition by the President of Matto Grosso — The wilderness — Friendship of Don Antonio, his boat, and a crew of negro soldiers — Departure for the Madeira river — Birds and fishes congregated at the mouth of the Itenez — On the Mamoré river again — A negro soldier’s account of the Emperor’s service — Roar of Guajará-merim Falls

CHAPTER XII.

Jacares savages — Mouth of the Beni river — Obstructions to steamboat navigation — Madeira river falls — Lighten the boat — Pot holes — Granite — Pedreneira falls — Caripuna savages — Pedro milks a savage woman — Bilious fever — Arrive at the foot of San Antonio falls — The impracticability of navigating by steamboats the falls of the Mamoré and Madeira rivers — Proposed road through the territory of Brazil to Bolivia — Physical strength of the white, black, and red men, compared under a tropical climate — Tamandua island — Turtle eggs — Oil-hunters — Borba — Mouth of the Madeira river