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CANELOS TO BANGS 139
prepared large draughts of masato for the men, as
they said, to give them force, and the process was
repeated once or twice during the day. They had
also generally their marked resting-places, where
they made long halts after carrying their loads an
hour or an hour and a half together. On reaching
one of these, the women used to cut palm-leaves
and spread them on the ground, and the men, after
depositing their loads, threw themselves on the
leaves at full length. This day they had made
very long halts, so that although we went along
a moss
very slowly, and I often delayed to pluck
from the branches, we had got far ahead of them.
The day was wearing away, and the clouds and
rain made the forest so gloomy that night seemed
nearer than it actually was. We waited a good
while at a place that seemed convenient for the
ranchos, till I began to shiver with cold, and I
actually turned back to see what had become of
them. The Indians from the first had been com-
plaining, more suo, of the heavy cargoes, then of
the rain and the wet forest, and of the long dis-
tance they had to go. They might at any instant
leave their cargoes and return to Canelos, without
giving us a hint. Such a thing had happened many
and many a time. Even these very Indians on
their last journey towards the Sierra conducting
the Padre and his cargoes left him and his goods
at the Rio Verde, a day's journey from Barios.
The night is generally chosen for these elopements,
and when day breaks the unfortunate traveller finds
himself alone. Fortunately, my misgivings
in this
instance were without foundation, and after I had
gone back a good
distance I heard the voices of