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iS NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP.
The animal food at Yurimaguas, besides pigs
and fowls raised on the spot, is chiefly fish, game
being very scarce. In the summer fish are obtained, but when the river
small ones can be had.
many large
is full only
About a quarter of a mile below Yurimaguas a
deep valley
enters on the west side called Parana-
pura, which is the route to Balsapuerto and Moyobamba,
and thence by Chuchapoyas and Truxillo
to the coast. The navigation of the river is
uncertain and perilous, not on account of rapids,
of which there are hardly any, but because of its
often rising a great height in a few hours (or even
minutes) from the sudden swelling
streams consequent on heavy rains.
of mountain
When in its
best state the voyage from Yurimaguas to Balsa-
but when full the current is
puerto takes six days,
very strong, and when low channels have to be
dug through sandbanks, so that several weeks are
sometimes required.
A little way within the Paranapura there is
a village a little larger than Yurimaguas called
Muniches, which may be reached by a good track
through the forest in four hours. This track
crosses several elevations and valleys, each of the
latter with a stream running in a sandy or pebbly
bed. Along this track the land has been almost
all formerly cultivated and there are still several
fields of Yucas and Plantains.
About the same distance above Yurimaguas
there is a very similar but smaller stream called
Chamusi, which affords a route to Tarapoto and
Lamas, occupying usually six days, of which three
are by water. But the Chamusi has the same