bragas,[1] Huaracayo,[2] and Manseriche.[3] Having cleared the latter, a bark or canoe is hired at Borja; and thence the whole of the navigation by the Maranon is highly agreeable, and free from the smallest danger. Not more than three days are required from la Barranca to the lake.
The return from the lake to Tomependa is more difficult, and more tedious in proportion; insomuch, that from the lake to la Barranca six days are consumed, and to Borja eight. On the third day’s navigation, in ascending from Barranca, the traveller falls in with a torrent named Onoaga: at this spot loose stones begin to make their appearance; and the knats and mosquitoes, which had before been inseparable companions, cease to be troublesome. A winding of the river having been passed, the second torrent, named Sapape, occurs. In the following flexure lies the third, named Payguero; and after two other windings have been passed, the fourth, named Vacas, is fallen in with. Four other torrents, named Chote, Platero, Fatiga, and Calenturas, occur in the subsequent flexures of the river; and the ninth and last, named Pedregal, falls at the foot of Borja. The sites of all these torrents are bad passes in the ascent, which must necessarily be accomplished by the banks of the river, to avoid contending against the strong current in the centre. As in all these passes there is but little water near the banks, it is necessary to raise the vessel from time to time with levers, and to push it along until a sufficient depth can be found. In one day the navigator proceeds by the strait of Borja to Santiago; in four, to the pongo of Huaracayo; in two, to that of Escurribragas; in three, to that of Cumbinama; in one, to the mouth of the Imasa (a
- ↑ This pongo is formed of a shelving cliff in a semicircular shape. The river extends by this curvature, within which the water appears to be stagnant. In its effort, however, to flow out at the side opposite to that by which it entered, it is obstructed and forced back by the rocks, which give it a strong impulsion towards the stream. The collision that ensues occasions considerable whirlpools and eddies, to shun which the Indians are under the necessity of drawing the vessel from the bank, by the means of bejuco cords.
- ↑ In this pongo there is the same risk as in the preceding one, with this difference, however, that on each side of the bank the cliffs are so smooth and slippery, that the Indians, in the ascent of the river, have not any footing to enable them to draw the vessel with the bejuco cords. They are therefore obliged to wait until the vortex is subdued by the impulse of the current.
- ↑ This is a strait of nearly two leagues in length, formed of two parallel cliffs, by which the river is narrowed to such a degree, that its breadth of six hundred yards, before its junction with the river Santiago, is reduced to fifty. The constant breaking oi the waves against the rocks has made several formidable caverns, resembling houses, with their saloons, chambers, &c.
that it becomes necessary, in the ascent more particularly, to discharge the cargoes, and drag the vessels to the opposite bank.
