came up at a clerical dinner-company some time ago, and the question went round to each as follows: "Were you ever so placed in public in the performance of a service as to lose all sense of the solemnity of the oссаsion and be compelled to laugh in spite of your more serious self?" The following are some of the answers, as revealing the hidden but unforgotten experiences of ministerial accidents. Case number one was as follows: "I was holding a prayer - meeting in a Western town in the early days of my ministry, and, as there was no one to raise the tune, I tried myself to do it. The hymn began With hyssop purge thy servant, Lord, My first attempt was a failure; when I tried Here was case number two: came. "I was conducting the funeral of a parishioner, and, supposing that the choir was present, gave out a hymn. No response As there was no one to raise the tune, I boldly essayed to do it. But, to my horror, I found it was too short for the words; no one could follow me in my lengthening-out process, so I had it all my own way, and sang it as a solo. When I came to verse number two, I thought for a long time, and then, feeling sure that I was right this time, pitched the tune, but it was so high I could not pretend to follow it, and left it for two or three volunteer ladies to carry on as best they could. But, to my dismay, I found that even this would not do: it was a longmetre tune to a common-metre hymn, and it came to an ignominious close at the end of the second line. The words were solemn, the occasion was solemn, I felt for the mourners, I felt for myself, but, wanting to be brave and prevail over the difficulty, I stood a moment and then struck up again. This time I was down in the very depths in my effort not. to pitch it too high, and again I was on a long metre, which I could not make short enough for the hymn. Do what I would, I could not tuck it in, and the hymn 'Hear what the voice from Heaven declares1'is forever ruined for me. No wonder that family never wanted to have Dr. at the funeral of any of their friends." Case No. 3 was that of a very solemn clergyman and his assistant, who were disturbed in their chancel by a miserable-looking street-cat, which had come in in some unknown way, and was rubbing itself up against their legs, me-ow-ing piteously. The rector beckoned to the assistant to put the cat out, which he did, but in a few moments she was back again. Upon this the very one of the heavy box-stools in the chancel, "A charge to keep I have." to risk the failure of catching that hen. But, with a solemn face and stately step, as if I was about to give out the alms-boxes, I walked up to the 'bird,' and in an instant of silence, the like of which I never experienced before, I caught the hen and disappeared into the vestry-room. But to this day I ask myself the question of the other side of the issue, 'Suppose you had failed to catch that hen, what would you have done?'" The fourth case mentioned was that of a Western missionary who was holding service for the first time in a frontier town. A large congregation had gathered in the primitive court-room, and the young itinerant was just about to announce his text, when a tall man, who had been playing the melodeon for the extemporized choir, pitched back his chair on its hind-legs on the clerk's stand, immediately in front of the judge's bench, and, putting his hands in his pockets, fell backward, and went completely over. As he was directly in front of the preacher, his long legs, in going over, knocked down the cushion | immediately began to corkscrew his way The last experience mentioned was that of a clergyman at his first baptism of infants, He was then very young in years, and had never before held a baby that he could remember of, much less hold a baby and a book in the presence of a church full of people. The first infant given into his arms was a big, squirming boy of thirteen months, who "Set them up again!" "Double score!" and his way through his clothes, and would soon All this time the disconcerted young A venerable professor who was present "Just as the preacher announced his text "If he had asked me to storm a battery, solemn rector placed the poor creature under I would have been as willing as I was then I There are many causes for these professional blunders, though sometimes they come out of an apparently clear sky. Absentmindedness is one of these causes. A lady in a certain church not long ago destroyed the devotion of a portion of the congregation by sitting in a front pew in summer-time with a child's doll stuffed in her skirts in the place of the conventional bustle. There were the head and arms appealing to the congregation for deliverance, and the lady, all the while, was singing like an unconscious angel. An instance of clerical absent-mindedness which we know to be true is as follows: An Irish minister was invited to baptize a friend's child, which he did, omitting altogether, however, to place any water upon its head. The parent took the bowl and presented it to the minister, but he declined it. Thereupon the father took the water a second time, and insisted upon his taking it. The bewildered clergyman held the bowl for a moment, and then said: "I had a glass of water before I came into church, but, so long as you insist on my drinking this, I will do it, though I assure you I am not at all thirsty." And he actually drank the water from the baptismal bowl! Ignorance of the true situation is another cause of professional mistakes. It is a safe rule in traveling to expect everybody, to do as other people do, and to take nothing for granted until first we find out definitely the simple facts of the case for ourselves. And there are good rules in other matters. Some time ago, in a large Roman Catholic church, a funeral was appointed to be held at one o'clock. It was a grave-digger and assistant sexton, who had fallen into drinking-habits, who was to be buried. The priest who was - to conduct this particular funeral was half an - hour late, and, on arriving at the church and seeing the funeral-procession waiting for him, went on at once with the service. As there were supposed to be many of the old gravedigger's friends present, the priest thought it a good opportunity to speak kindly of the deceased, and point a moral from his sad ending. So he began as follows: "This man, my friends, whom we are about to bury, though addicted to a great and common vice, was in every other respect a true man." "Father Melaylee," whispered an Irish-man, "let me spake a word to ye's." E "No," replied the priest, "I will not be interrupted. I know this poor man's faults before me, but he was a true man in spite of his failing." "O Father Melaylee," groaned out two of the pall-bearers, "just listen to us, please, Father Melaylee, only a word, your riverince!" "No," said the indignant priest, "I will not yield for one moment. As I was saying, this poor man before me was a-" "Father Melaylee," cried out the irrepressible mourner, "the t'other priest has buried the grave-digger half an hour ago; this one's a woman we're burying, sure, and it's Tim Lanagan's wife we've got here!" Professional blunders are also quite a wonder. When we come to think about them it is passing strange there are so few of them in a community which is generally lying in ebullient mischief. Every college has its Talmud full of past traditions and wonderful reminiscences of the naughty patriarchs of the old college-world upon whom the floods of administrative discipline came ds and swept them all away. These gentlemen present, of course, cannot Another student, upon a similar occasion, The scenes at theological examinations are sometimes rendered ludicrous by the assumed air of technical exactness on the part of examiners. Frequently, very pious but unlearned clerical examiners have been noticed with their Hebrew Bible upside down, and their finger wisely placed on the last chapter of Malachi, which, in their mistake, they have imagined to be the first book of Genesis! sixth psalm, and none of you knew it." But we remember a case which is even equal to this one in its outside grandeur and its inward plainness. It is a striking instance of the simple way in which professional thunder is made when once you are familiar with the doings behind the scenes: A young gentleman who was studying for the ministry had never completed his college course, and, before his final examination, it was necessary that two clergymen should examine him on mental and moral philosophy and on physics. This examination was designed to take the place of a college diploma. The examining ministers were appointed, and, as they were well-known friends of the candidate, and the day was very hot, form was dispensed with, coats were taken off, pipes were lighted, and the following scene oс Examiner No. 1. "Well, Harry, now for this examination. First comes mental philosophy. What do you understand by mental philosophy?" One of these gentlemen, at last, after hav- | curred: Every college-man has his measuring-line | following conversation ensued: filled with the feet and inches of a past expe rience, which, under the impulse of memory and the company of old classmates, can be unrolled to any length. Therefore, upon this it common field we will not enter. But the side-schools which lead into the various professions are not so well known, and perhaps a string of theological mistakes are as striking a bundle of queer fish as we can find in any other line. It is a great mistake to imagine that, because theology is a solemn study and the ministry a grave work, there are no opportunities afforded for the sheet-lightning of humor. On the contrary, the very seriousness of the work itself offers da striking background for the ludicrous element to be conspicuous in. In a certain divinity-school in this country a professor was trying to get a student to define the Sabellian conception of the Trinity. The man was new to the ways of the professor, and was a little flustered by the presence of some clerical magnates who had come to witness the examination. "Now, Mr.-," said the professor, "You observe the sixth line?" "Do you notice the fourth word in that line?" "Yes, sir." "Very good. Now, sir, do you observe the third letter in that fourth word of the sixth line?" "Yes, sir." "You do observe it, you say?" Harry. "The philosophy of the mind and its workings." Examiner No. 1. "Very good.-Brother B." (this to the other examiner), "have you any questions to ask?" Brother B. "No, I think not." Examiner No. 1. "Well, this will do for mental philosophy. Now, Brother B., you must conduct the examination on moral philosophy." Brother B. "Very well. - Harry, what do you consider as the root of all Christian morals?" Harry. "I suppose it is the revealed will "Very well indeed, sir. Now, can you "Yes, sir; it is called Dagesh forte." And that student was dying to turn the Brother B. "Yes. That is very good.Brother C." (this to Examiner No. 1), "have you any other questions to ask?" Examiner No. 1. "No." Brother B. "Well, then, we come to physics. I will let you conduct this." Examiner No. 1. "By physics we mean the philosophy of the physical world. We have only time to go into one department. We will take up the subject of hydraulics. The sheerest case of incompetence in the Well, Harry, what is a pump?" matter of linguistic examination that Harry. "An instrument for drawing wa > "let us try to understand this matter. Sup- could happen before a board was the follow- ter." pose, in some town, an individual was major of a battalion, cashier of a bank, and elder in & church. When you thought of him in his military capacity, you would say Mr. Jones, the major; when you thought and spoke of him in business matters, you would say Mr. ing: A converted German Jew was seeking admission to the ministry of a Protestant church, and was examined in Hebrew by a trio of clergymen who had forgotten their seminary days, and with them their little Examiner No. 1. "Quite right; but how does it work?" Harry. "You push the handle down, you know." Examiner No. 1. "Yes; you push the handle down, and then you lift it, and then you push it down again. But how does that make the water come?" Harry. "It draws the water up by suction." Examiner No. 1. "Yes; by suction. you give any Latin motto to show how the water rushes in to fill the empty place left by the water?" not of the menial sort, will reject a gratuity; compensation for his kindness in doing his the former almost certainly with something | master or mistress's bidding. If you accept like resentment. men. I remember a Londoner's telling me that, on Can ( coming to this country, he had several times offended Americans by his desire to "tip" them; that they nearly threw the money in his face, and assured him they were gentle"And they weren't any thing of the sort, either, you know," he continued, "for they were very seedy, and I dare say hadn't a guinea to bless themselves with. You Americans are an awfully funny lot, now, aren't you, though?" Harry. "Natura abhorruit vacuum." Examiner No. 1. "Yes. Now translate this Latin expression." Harry. "Nature abhors a vacuum." Examiner No. 1. "Very good.- Brother B., have you any further questions to ask?" Brother B. "No, I think not." Examiner No. 1. "Very well, then.Now, Harry, consider that you stand on the same footing with those who have a college diploma, since you have passed this examination in mental, moral, and physical philosophy. That will do for to-day." [Exeunt omnes.] Perhaps, too, this will do for the present for us, and perhaps we may return again to this subject of Professional Blunders. THE ΟΜ ΝΙΡΟΤΕΝ T SHILLING. UR Anglo-Saxon kinsmen beyond the sea are very fond of harping on the American passion for the almighty dollar; unmindful or unconscious that it is quite equaled, if not exceeded, by their love To my remark that we thought the poorer we were the more right we had to be proud, he looked perplexed, and murmured: "Yes, yes; Americans are deucedly rum." No doubt it is as difficult for our cisatlantic cousins to understand why we shouldn't take money as for us to understand why they should take it on the slightest or even with out pretext of service. The reason is plain enough; but the thing at issue is a comparison between the almighty dollar and the omnipotent shilling. They are so voluble about the former that we may well be excused for reference to the latter. Tipping, as it is called over there, has become so much a habit that everybody falls in with it. The English, as a rule, do this or that thing because other Englishmen do it. They follow established custom blindly, unquestioningly; believing that custom rests on some divine right, like that of a king to a crown, or of a man to be a fool, if he so chooses. an invitation of a friend to breakfast or dinner in Manchester, Liverpool, or London, John Thomas will think extremely ill of you unless you give him a crown or half-crown at your departure, by way of showing your appreciation of what he has not done for you. What the queen-by court etiquette the first lady of the land-tolerates, and even sanctions, the nobility and gentry, and even the plainest citizens, must subscribe to. Hence tipping the servants of your host is not only the habit, but the fashion; and the combination is irresistible. One would think that the effort of the Duke of Wellington (not because of the name he bears, but of his rank) to break up this custom might succeed. I gravely doubt if it will. I hear, indeed, that it has had no perceptible effect. Tipping would seem to be a part of the British Constitution, were not the Constitution in a chronic state of imminent peril, according to the politicians, while tipping is in no danger of disturbance whatever. Certainly it shows no symptom of yielding a jot, nor will it, in all probability, for the very reason that it ought to have been extinguished long since. The sturdiest endeavors to suppress tipping have heretofore been made in England without the smallest result. A few years ago all the railways combined to crush it. The managers and directors held meetings, and determined that they would discharge every and all of their employés who should, on any of the omnipotent shilling. They who have | A good number of Britons, especially just | pretense or for any reason, accept a gratuity spent any time in England must have learned that the shilling is much more of a power there than the dollar is here. It will accomplish on the other side what a dollar, though four times its value, will not begin to accomplish on this. A stranger is apt to think that there are few classes in England so exalted as to be beyond the acceptance of a shilling; and, when he has ceased to be a stranger, he is almost sure of it. In the United States, persons that take douceurs or gratuities are usually in a servile capacity, and nearly always foreigners; the native having a pride that will seldom allow him to receive money for discharging his duty or rendering a courtesy. In England, no such nicety is observed. If you find any one over there who refuses to have his palm crossed with silver-a circumstance altogether improbable-ten to one, he is not to the manor born. In willingness to take money, wherever, whenever, or by whomsoever offered, the average Englishman is, in spirit at least, uniformly a servant. He is not only willing, he is anxious, energetic, resolute, to take it; he expects it; he counts on it; he feels aggrieved if he fails to get it, although he has done nothing to earn or entitle him to it. Where the line is drawn in England it is impossible to say. I once put the question to one of my countrymen who had passed much of now, are opposed to this perpetual and causeless tipping; for it has so increased of late as to be a serious annoyance to all, and a grievous expense to many. Comparatively few Americans have any adequate idea of its extent, and depth, and strength. They must stay on British soil a while to learn how firm ly it has taken root. Very recently I was told, in England, that the present Duke of Wellington, having accepted an invitation of the queen to spend a few days at Windsor Castle, offered, on his departure, a sovereign to each of the servants who had waited on him during his visit. The royal flunkies elevated their insolent proboscides, and said, "We don't take gold;" meaning thereby that, as the Bank of England issues no notes of a denomination less than five pounds, that was the smallest amount they would condescend to accept; whereupon the duke, it is said, went home and placed in each of his guest-chambers a printed notice that none of his guests should, under any circumstances, fee his servants, and that if they did so they would incur his serious displeasure. This may sound strangely to persons unaware that, from time immemorial, it has been the custom in Britain for guests to fee the domestics of the gentleman or lady whose hospitality they enjoy. This would be a his life there, and he frankly confessed his in-breach of etiquette that would hardly be par- from a passenger. It was believed at first that the cooperation of these vast corporations to that end would abate the nuisance. For a while it was mitigated; but ere long it was as bad as ever, and for two or three years past it has been steadily increasing. You still see notices in the railway-stations that the servants of the companies are forbidden to receive gratuities; and yet your own eyes tell you that travelers regularly pay the porters, guards, everybody they come into contact with, capable of adding to their convenience or comfort. The porter's duty is to handle luggage; he is hired for that purpose alone; but he hardly ever performs his duty without pay from the passenger to whom the luggage belongs. The fee is not large-a few pence, often a shilling-but it amounts to a good deal, because it is given every time the baggage is touched. You do not pay one man only you pay him who takes your wraps, bundles, or trunks, from the carriage; you pay him who has the baggage weighed, and you pay him who puts it in the van and assumes to look after it. This involves an expenditure of one shilling and sixpence to three shillings, and is to be undergone, even though your journey be but a few miles. I have known passengers going from Liverpool to London-a distance of two hundred miles and stopping en route, to pay nearly a pound to the railway-employés for doing what the company expressly hired them to do. It is common to say that on English railways a judicious use of the shilling will se cure every thing that is to be secured, aud the saying is substantially true. If two persons are traveling together, and wish to have eon, or dinner, you pay sixpence for service a coach to themselves, they have merely to in the bill, and sixpence-frequently a shilintimate as much to the guard and put a ling-to the waiter who brings you the bill! piece of silver in his hand, and the thing is In the United States we think the obligaaccomplished. If you are going from London ❘tion, if any, is on the side of the person reto Edinburgh, or intend to take any other | ceiving money. The English seem to think into the restaurants. At breakfast, or lunch- | while you can call a policeman and command tacked by the Indians; and this old fellow | getting her off; so, in a second, they were night-ride, you can have a coach alone by paying the proper fee. In this way you can enter a second-class compartment, which has no divisions of seat, stretch out at full length, wrap yourself in rug and shawl, and get a good night's rest. Before sleeping-coaches were introduced into Europe, all experienced travelers chose such method. the obligation rests with him who pays. Thousands of gratuities are given every day in England for no better reason than because the English find somebody kind enough to take their shillings. They often tip a flunky who has done absolutely nothing; whom, indeed, they have not seen until he condescends to accept their cash. Not infrequently they pay service three times-I confess my own I understand matters have gone so far that persons often buy second, even third-guilt in this-by giving it at the inn where tariff, hence its economy and liberal employment. Railway-attachés seldom if ever ask for gratuities openly. But they do negatively, and in a manner difficult to resist. Positive demand is wellnigh superfluous, so well settled is the custom, so fixed the price, so perject the silent understanding between the paron and the client. This methodic, wholesale tipping has not been introduced by forigners or strangers, who in the beginning are wholly unacquainted with it, but by the native nd resident population, and is sustained and trengthened by them. Why do they practise t? Do they like to pay twice for the same hing? Not at all. They practise it partialbecause they deem it essential to convenence and comfort, but mainly because others ractise it. As true Englishmen they must ollow in the lead of their fellows: they have ot the moral courage to depart from popular sage. They all acknowledge it to be wrong principle; that it is a serious tax on the arse; that a great many feel obliged to pay es when they can't afford to; and still they ontinue the habit, defending themselves by king, "How are we to get rid of it?" It ight to be broken up, they admit; but nody is willing to make a move to that end. The charge of service in European hotels is originally made to prevent servants from where they eat; and by giving it to the waiter who has served them. The nuisance is growing so rapidly that the time may not be distant when all respectable persons will be expected to pay six times for one service. Marvelous is the potency of a shilling, or its multiplication, everywhere in England. You need have no apprehension of offending any Briton by the presentation of silver. Some may not take silver; but they will take gold, and, if not gold, they must be pervious to bank-notes. Occasionally you may blunder, as an American is reputed to have done when the wife of his Oxford friend kissed him on his departure for the Continent, and he rewarded her with a glittering sovereign. This, however, lacks confirmation. People in the street, policemen at the corners, ushers at the theatres, tradesmen, custodians of all sorts, subordinates, and superintendents-men, women, and children-scan your face for a shilling, and are uneasy until they clutch it. The British are a sterling people in more than one sense. They may not care for their pound of flesh; but they insist on the pound that is composed of twenty shillings of silver. The English policeman is generally obliging, but how much of his obligingness is due to his scent of remuneration it is needless to inquire. He rarely asks in words for money, portuning travelers; in other words, to de-but he will receive it with amazing alacrity. five them of any excuse for begging for fees ter the regular bill had been paid. To a rtain extent this has been effective on the intinent, though it is wholly inoperative in itain. In England, especially servants exct fees, and ask for them with their whole exession, quite as much as before service was egular charge. If questioned, they say doubt truly-that they do not get the serPe, and by a queer logic reason that, beuse the inn-keeper deceives or imposes on his patrons, the patrons should in turn imposed upon by his servants. Nearly all jglishmen pay the proprietor for service, 1 pay it over again to the servants. They plare it a licensed extortion; but then evebody does it, you know, and they hate to odd-another way of saying they fear to thought mean. They have fully as great lidity on this subject as we financially-senrive Americans ourselves. In London and ner large English cities service has crept He is always prepared to take any thing, from a sixpence to a sovereign, ever so many times duplicated. Entrance to more than half the places in London, where an order is supposed to be indispensable for admission, can easily be had by "tipping a bobby." To the House of Peers, for example, where nothing less than the autograph of one of the lords, spiritual or temporal, is said to secure ingress, half a crown to a policeman has been for years the regulated price. The same or less will serve for closed palaces, historic houses, art-galleries, or curious collections. When in England, never be intimidated by shut doors and flaring notices of inaccessible a shilling. Show-places like Eton Hall, Blenheim, Warwick Castle, Chatsworth, can be seen for a pecuniary consideration. The opulent noblemen who own them are very kind to open them to the public, but visitors must fee the servants. The noblemen are not rich enough to render the gratuity unnecessary. No Englisbman could be so rich as that. Such affluence is not to be measured by British money. I remember, years ago, when I first visited the Bodleian Library. After I had been through it, notwithstanding a well-dressed, intelligent man, who had opened two or three doors, kept suspiciously near me, I hesitated to offer him any thing. I thought books refine the mind; the very presence of immortal works softens, broadens, spiritualizes. Men privileged to breathe this atmosphere must be lifted above pecuniary consideration. Still, the fellow was at my elbow, and his every feature resembled a financial point of interrogation. Waveringly I placed a shilling in his hand. He glanced at it, and seemed surprised. I turned crimson, and begged his pardon. I blushed again the second time for him as he said, "Couldn't you make it half a crown, sir?" Since then I have learned England and the English better. The persuasive power of the shilling in England has its advantages, particularly for strangers and tourists whose time is limited. It unlocks doors, removes difficulties, cuts red tape, reduces friction. But it has its disadvantages, also, notably for the English themselves. Willingness to take money for aught but honest work is a bad sign. It mars manliness, impairs independence, dulls sensibility, integrity, honor. It is one of the many inconsistencies of British character; contradicts much of its sterling worth. We frankly confess that we pursue the almighty dollar too ardently. It is the mote in the American eye. But until the English have cast the beam of the omnipotent shilling from their own, they should extend to us the charity of silence. JUNIUS HENRI BROWNE. THE PERUVIAN AMAZON AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. NOTES FROM A JOURNAL OF TRAVEL. V. June 15th.-Before daylight this morning we got under way, the Indians all manifesting great dissatisfaction, and protesting against going farther. They discover, very suddenly, that they have ailments of various kinds, pleading sore hands and feet from exposure to sun and water, though they have known nothing else all their lives. One old fellow is pitiable to see. He is in such terror of the Campas that you can actually see him trembling as he stands out in bold relief as popero of one of the canoes. Many years ago he was one of a party under the leadership of a priest, who attempted to reenter the Campa country. They were atand one other were the only ones so fortunate as to escape alive, he bringing away a Campa arrow in his body, the scar of which is now plainly visible. At ten A. M. we arrived at the head of canoe-navigation on the Pichis, in latitude 10° 22′ 55" south; longitude, 74° 49' west of Greenwich; elevation above sea-level, 213.359 metres; distance from the Brazilian frontier at the mouth of the river Yavari, thirteen hundred and fifty-six miles, and from the mouth of the Amazon (following the course of the river), thirty-five hundred miles; and, in a direct line, only one hundred and ninety miles from the Pacific coast. The river here was so rapid and shallow that it was necessary for the men to get out and haul the canoes up over the rocks. Among these rocks we found numerous specimens of coral and sea-shell; and just ahead of us loomed up the eastern spurs of the Andes. As the canoes could overboard and at work. They got it off, however, so as to come in just behind the rear-guard canoe. We continued our voyage, nothing more of interest occurring; and in one day, going down-stream, we accomplished what it had taken three days to do in ascending. Why we were not attacked we cannot understand. We heard the Indians in the bushes, saw their tracks, and saw where their balsas had been moored within the last day or two. We supposed, however, that it was because we did not remain long enough for them to collect in sufficient numbers; for numerically we made quite a show. June 18th. At two P. M., yesterday, we reached the mouth of the river Trinidad, a tributary of the Pichis, and which we had passed on Trinity Sunday on our ascent, and which we intended to explore as we went back. When the order was given to turn float no farther, this terminated our explora- ( up into this river, there was almost open tion of this river. We named this point Port Tucker, in honor of the chief of the expedition, and determined to remain here until the next day, before starting on our downward voyage. The average current of the river Pichis we determined to be two and one-fifth miles per hour. This average seems to be small for a rapid stream; but the difficulty in ascending arose from the fact that there were beds of round stones and gravel at intervals of every two or three miles, over which flowed a very rapid current, and between which a comparatively slow one intervened, thus making the above average. June 16th.- When we awoke this morning we could hardly recognize our Indians. During the night they had all painted; some to protect themselves from the effects of the sun and water, and some to protect themselves from the Campas. The manner of painting to keep off the Campas was very simple. It consisted in a streak of blue vegetable paint, passing through the mouth and terminating at the ears, thus giving the wearer the appearance of having a bridle-bit in his mouth. I do not know wherein consisted the charm, but it was firmly believed by those who had thus painted themselves that they could not be struck by a Campa arrow. At half-past seven A. M. we embarked, and, much to the joy of our Indians, commenced the descent of the river. In a short time we were borne by the swift current down to the confluence of the Herrera-yacu, where we stopped to breakfast and to verify observations. We found the presents, which we had left here for the Indians, untouched; and this our Indians regarded as rather a bad sign. Here we cleared for action, and made every thing ready, as we had to pass the outpost settlement. The current was strong, and we went at the rate of four or five knots per hour. When we neared the point where we expected the Indians, we heard a tambour in the woods, and knew that they were astir. Here there were rapids in the river, and the foremost canoe went aground. It was impossible to stop, and one by one each canoe shot past like an The Indians of the grounded canoe knew that their salvation depended upon arrow. mutiny among our Indians. At four P. M. we stopped for the night, the current being so strong that we had made only four miles in that time. Under the cover of darkness five Indians deserted, thinking it better to try to navigate two hundred miles on a raft through the country of the Cashibos, and trusting to the fish that they might catch for subsistence, than to again run the gantlet of the Campas. Our numbers were so reduced by this last desertion, and the remaining Indians so worn out, that it was impossible to get the boats up higher, and so the exploration of this river had to be abandoned, and all our energies directed to regaining our old camp at the confluence of the Pichis and Palcazu. This we reached at five P. M., to find that our old ranches had been washed away by a rise of water. Thus ended the exploration of the Pichis proper. The vegetation along the banks is almost identical with that of the Ucayali and Pachitea, the trees being only remarkable for their general worthlessness as fuel for steamers and for timber. On all these upper rivers we have met with only three or four varieties of trees that serve as fuel for steamers, and these varieties are not very numerous close to the banks. For a mile or so back from each bank, the trees are not so tall, so large, or so close together, as in our virgin forests in the United States, and resemble enormous weeds more than any thing else I have ever seen. I have seen a tree three feet in diameter and eighty feet high exactly resembling a stalk of purslane, or, as it is commonly called, pursley. For the most part the undergrowth consists of varieties of palms, with creepers and weeds. There were many signs of animal life on the Pichis, but few varieties. We saw innumerable tracks of tapirs and ronsocos. We saw several large snakes also, but none resembling the boa. Two varieties of turkey and two of duck were the only fowl we saw fit for eating. After leaving the hills the river runs through a low basin, and I suppose that, for a large portion of every year, the banks for miles and miles back are under water, thus rendering it impossible for other animals than those mentioned to exist. There were no mosquitoes or sand-flies; and there is an old Indian proverb that where the mosquitoes will not live the country is unhealthful. This proved to be so, all of us getting chills or some sickness, the result of malaria, that clung to us as long as we remained in South America. June 19th. There is one point, the position of which we are anxious to establishPort Prado, on the river Palcazu; and this morning a call was made for volunteers from among our Indians. At ten A. M., with two canoes manned by the most unwilling set of volunteers I ever saw, we set off; and by nightfall accomplished ten miles. The Pal cazu only differs from the Pichis in having higher banks and a stronger current. Port Prado, June 21st.-Last night we arrived within a few hundred yards of this place; but it was so dark we were afraid to attempt a passage of the rapids. These are formed by the pouring in of the waters of the river Pozuzo at right angles to the direction of the Palcazu; and so all hands slept on a playa of round rocks not four inches out of the water, and the river slightly rising. Some of our men waded to the nearest bank to collect firewood for the night, and reported having stirred up a jaguar. Port Prado, in latitude 9° 55' 22" south, longitude 75° 17′ 45′′ west of Greenwich, is at the head of navigation for light-draught steamers on the Palcazu. It is the point to which the people of Huanoco and all the interior mountain-country have been for so long a time looking as the terminus of a railroad that would connect them with the ocean and furnish a market for their many valuable products. It is just at the mouth of the river Mayro and half a mile from the mouth of the Pozuzo. Judging from their mouths, these are bold mountain-streams, their high, abrupt banks being strewed with immense bowlders brought down from the Andes, and their courses obstructed by numerous rapids. For several months during the year, on account of the bowlders and débris, washed down from the mountains, the Palcazu itself, even after its volume has been increased by the two afore - mentioned streams, is unnaviga ble for light-draught steamers. Every few miles the stream spreads out, and ripples over immense beds of round stones and gravel; and over these inclines we had, at this stage of the water, great difficulty in drawing our canoes. Along the banks, however, the marks on the trees indicate the water ås hav ing been, during the rainy season, at least twenty feet higher than at present. As in the Pichis, there is, between these gravelly beds, but little current, the average being three and a half miles per hour. Port Prado is distant from the Brazilian fron tier, at the mouth of the Yavari River, thir teen hundred and seven and a half miles; its elevation above sea-level is 242,315 metres. The general characteristics of the scenery are boldness and ruggedness, and from the port are visible many mountain-spurs and t peaks. One of these, a very lofty and beauti ful mountain, seemed to be recognized by Indians as a landmark, and was called by the "El Miradero," or "the Watch-tower." Th |