n on one of them whilst the water
is falling endangers the detention of the vessel until she is floated
off by the annual rise in October.

The annual fall of the river having set in when the _Tambo_ reached
the mouth of the Pachitea, Tucker determined to continue the
expedition in canoes. Six of the largest and best canoes that could be
procured from the Indians were fitted out, and the whole Commission
embarked in them, accompanied by its escort of a dozen Peruvian
soldiers under the command of Major Ramon Herrera.

From the 19th to the 30th of May the Commission prosecuted its survey
of the Pachitea without interruption, but on the 30th, at a place
called Cherrecles Chingana, fifteen or twenty Cashibo Indians came
down to the left or north bank of the river, and by signs and gestures
signified a desire for friendly communication. The canoes were paddled
in to them, and some few presents of such articles as could be spared
were distributed among them, and, apparently, received most
thankfully. But the Cashibos did not let the occasion pass without
showing the treachery for which they are notorious. When the interview
was ended, seemingly in the most amicable manner, and as the canoes of
the Commission were paddling off, a flight of arrows was discharged at
them by a party of Cashibos who had been lying in ambush during the
interview. A few volleys from the Remington rifles, with which all
the members of the Commission were armed, soon dispersed the savages
and drove them to the jungle.

Of all the savage tribes that roam about the head waters of the
Ucayali, the Cashibos alone are cannibals. They are brave, cunning and
treacherous, and are only surpassed by the Campas in their hatred of
the white man. The Campas inhabit the spurs and hills at the foot of
the eastern Cordilleras, where the Ucayali and Pichis rivers have
their origin. They are a fierce, proud and numerous tribe, and are
held in great fear by their lowland neighbors. They permit no
strangers, especially no whites, to enter their country, and the
members of the expedition under Tucker were the first white men who
ever ascended the Pichis into the regions of this warlike tribe.

The canoes of the expedition entered the mouth of the Pichis on the
6th of June. Being an unknown river, it became necessary to give names
to the prominent points as they were discovered; and these names were
used subsequently in making the charts of the surveys of the
Commiss