. Exploration of the valley of the Amazon : made under direction of the Navy Department by Wm. Lewis Herndon and Lardner Gibbon . being properly prepared, wepassed a wretched night. September 26.—Taking advantage of the eddies and still water nearthe shore, we paddled and poled along at about the rate of a mile and ahalf per hour. Our men work well. They commence paddling witha strong, slow stroke, of about fifteen or twenty to the minute, andgradually quicken them till they get to be half-second strokes. Theykeep this up for about half aji hour, when, at a shout from the bowman,they toss thei
. Exploration of the valley of the Amazon : made under direction of the Navy Department by Wm. Lewis Herndon and Lardner Gibbon . being properly prepared, wepassed a wretched night. September 26.—Taking advantage of the eddies and still water nearthe shore, we paddled and poled along at about the rate of a mile and ahalf per hour. Our men work well. They commence paddling witha strong, slow stroke, of about fifteen or twenty to the minute, andgradually quicken them till they get to be half-second strokes. Theykeep this up for about half aji hour, when, at a shout from the bowman,they toss their paddles in the air, change sides, and. commence the slowstroke again. They, however, prefer poling to paddling, and willalways make for a beach, where they can use their poles, which theydo in a lazy, inefficient manner. The shores of the river today, on the left bank, are abrupt, andabout ten or fifteen feet high. They are of a light, loose earth, that iscontinually caving in by the action of the current, and carrying treesinto the stream. On the other side the shores are low, green, and .» / Tl.« K, >.^t^^ ., i^^. PtVemazzi del I VARA THE UCAYALI. 193 shelvinor. I think they are the shores of low, narrow islands. Thetrees are not very thick, and the country is more open than on tlie banksof the Huallaga. After breakfast we pulled nearly to the middle of theriver, and, anchoring in thirty-three feet water, we found the current, bythe log, to be a mile and three-quarters the hour. We passed the mouthof a small stream called Chingana, up which there is a settlement of theMayorunas. Our men are much afraid of this people, and always sleepon the left bank so long as they are in their country. All the peons onthis river have their musquito curtains painted black, so that the Mayo-runas may not see them in the night. The mode of attack of thesesavages is to wait till the travellers have fallen asleep, and then rushupon the musquito nets and plunge in their lances. None of t
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