but they manifest little curiosity. Our Napo Indians were evidently
afraid of it, and stood afar off. The first steamers that broke the deep
solitude of the Maranon were the "Huallaga" and "Tirado," brought out in
1853 by Dr. Whittemore, for Peru. They were built in New York, of
Georgia pine, costing Peru $75,000, and reflected no credit on the
United States; they lie rotting near Nauta. Peru has now two iron
steamers of London make--the "Morona" and "Pastassa"--besides two
smaller craft for exploring the tributaries. These steamers are for
government service, but three more are building in England with
passenger accommodations. The "Morona" has a tonnage of five hundred,
and an engine of one hundred and fifty horse-power. The engineers are
English, and the cook is a Chinaman. She makes monthly trips between
Yurimaguas, on the Huallaga River, and Tabatinga, on the Brazilian
frontier. Her rate down stream is eighteen miles an hour, and from
eleven to twelve against the current. These steamers do not pay expenses
at present; but they preserve the authority of Peru on the Maranon, and
supply with material the government works at Iquitos. They also do a
little commerce, taking down sarsaparilla and Moyabamba hats, and
bringing up English dry-goods. There were not half a dozen passengers on
board.

The only towns of any consequence west of Pebas are Iquitos, Nauta, and
Yurimaguas. Peru claims them--in fact, all the villages on the Maranon.
Iquitos is the most thriving town on the Upper Amazon. It is situated on
an elevated plain on the left bank of the river, sixty miles above the
mouth of the Napo. In Herndon's time it was "a fishing village of 227
inhabitants;" it now contains 2000. Here are the government iron-works,
carried on by English mechanics. In 1867 there were six engineers, two
iron-molders, two brass-molders, two coppersmiths, three blacksmiths,
three pattern-makers, two boiler-makers, five shipwrights, three
sawyers, besides bricklayers, brick-makers, carpenters, coopers, etc.;
in all forty-two. All the coal for the furnaces is brought from
England--the lignite on the banks of the Maranon is unfit for the
purpose. A floating dock for vessels of a thousand tons has just been
built. Nauta lies on the north bank of the Maranon, opposite the
entrance of the Ucayali. Its inhabitants, about 1000, trade in fish,
sarsaparilla, and wax from Ucayali. Yurimaguas is the port of Moyabamba,
a city of 10,000 souls, six days