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16 NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP.
at other times every Wednesday and Saturday
morning. On Saturday evening nearly the whole
population assists at vespers the Litany to the
Virgin when the altars are decked with small
vases filled \A*ith flowers of Poinciana pulcherrima
(called Uaita-sissa, i.e. swimming flower), and at the
conclusion the patron saint, mounted on a stage, is
carried in procession round the streets, the Padre
and his people chanting as they march. After
each mass in the morning, and after the Ave Maria
in the evening, the chief officials of the town pre-
sent themselves to the Padre to receive his orders,
and he is fortunately not trammelled by the presence
of any interested white man under the name of
Gubernador, this office being filled by an intelligent
old Indian. 1
His rule is strict without being severe,
and I have nowhere seen the Indians so docile.
True, they are a rather sluggish race poor oarsmen
and many of them have the skin disfigured
by black and red blotches from the leprous disease
called purupuru in Brazil.
Outside the pueblo is the cemetery, surrounded
by an adobe wall, with gates under a porch. It is
usual to bury a man in his old canoe, cut up into
like a coffin. The houses at Yurima-
something
on the rivers of
guas, as in most other places
are built of Cana brava a stout reed-
Maynas,
stuck close together in the ground and crossed by
others near the top and bottom. The doors are
made of the same material.
Stages (called barbacoas),
on which the inmates
The officials nt Yurimaguas, in the order oi their rank, are Curaca,
.ui, Alferes Alcaide, 1'mcurudor, Regklor, Algun/il major, and t\\
Alguaziles minor in all nine.