Ucayali River

“ Merchant steamers, engaged in the rubber trade, and in the shipment of products from the forests of northern Cuzco to Iquitos and foreign ports, can ascend the main stream of the Ucayali for three hundred miles above the mouth of the Pachitea, and beyond the confluence of its great tributaries, the Tambo and the 430Urubamba, continuing along the latter river for another hundred miles until they reach the port of Mishagua, in the Department of Cuzco. ”

“ M. Castelnau thinks that this last cascade is the first impassable barrier to the navigation of the Ucayali upwards; but he found many places below this where the river had but a depth of three feet, and many, though unimportant, rapids. ”

“ We met several canoes going up the river for salt; canoes passing each other on the river speak at a great distance apart. The Indians use a sing-song tone, that is heard and understood very far, without seeming to call for much exertion of the voice. Every year at this season the Indians of the Marañon and Ucayali make a voyage up the
Huallaga for their supply of salt. They travel slowly, and support themselves by hunting, fishing, and robbing plantain-patches on their way. ”

“ The Peruvian government has sought to open a trade route between the Rio Ucayali and the rich rubber districts of the Mayutata. All of the upper branches of the river Madeira find their way to the falls across the open, almost level Mojos and Beni plains, 35,000 sq. m. of which are yearly flooded to an average depth of about 3 ft. for a period of from three to four months. They rival if they do not exceed in fertility the valley of the Nile, and are the healthiest and most inviting agricultural and grazing region of the basin of the Amazon. ”

“ On the Ucayali are the commercial ports of Contamina and Masisea, the latter noted as the first station in the Montaña of the wireless telegraph system that connects Puerto Bermudez with the port of Iquitos. Steamers of four hundred tons ply between Iquitos and Contamina, seven hundred miles up the river; and, during the rainy season when the waterways are deeper than at other times, they ascend as far as Masisea, two hundred miles beyond Contamina. ”

“ Finally, the Mayorunas occupy the right bank of the Ucayali, near its mouth, and extend along the southern borders of the Amazon as far as the Yavari. Very little is known of this tribe. They are said to be whiter than the other tribes, to wear their beards, and to go naked. They attack any person who comes into their territory; and our Nauta boatmen were careful not to camp on their side of the river.
When I left Nauta I intended to ascend the Ucayali, if possible, as far as Chanchamayo, and also to examine the Pachitea. On arriving at Sarayacu I consulted Father Calvo on the subject. ”

“ This prerogative we bestow on the Ucayali, for reasons which appear to us to be incontrovertible. First, because its sources are much more distant than those of the Tunguragua, or Maranon, of father Samuel Fritz. Secondly, because the Beni, Paucartambo, and Apurimac, are navigable in a latitude in which that river has not as yet originated. Thirdly, because the Ucayali does not yield in the quantity of its waters; but, on the contrary, presents itself, at the confluence, with a greater breadth, and with a superiority which obliges the Maranon to alter its course [Condamine, l. c. pap. 69] . ”

“ To the right, again, near the mission of San Joachim d’Omaguas, just where the upper basin terminates, and after flowing majestically across the pampas of Sacramento, it receives the magnificent Ucayali, the great artery which, fed by numerous affluents, descends from Lake Chucuito, in the northeast of Arica.
Such are the principal branches above the village of Iquitos. Down the stream the tributaries become so considerable that the beds of most European rivers would fail to contain them. ”

“ The Nile never flows over the top of the dam, but always through the gates and the canal at one side. When the gates are closed during the dry season, enough water is held back by this structure of steel and granite to form a [133] lake over one hundred miles long, and this is let out as needed to supplement the ordinary flow of the river and give the crops plenty of water all summer through. There is water enough in the reservoir to give all the families of the United States all they could use for four or five months, and enough to supply Great Britain and Ireland the entire year. ”

“ The gathered floods swept on down the cañon and formed another great lake in the region now known as the Kittitas Valley.
But the struggle between Wishpoosh and Speelyei did not end, and the former in his mad fury went on thrashing around in this greater lake. For a long time the rocky barriers of the Umtanum restrained the flood, but at last they gave way before the onslaughts of the wrathful beaver, and the loosened waters swept on down and filled the great basin now occupied by the fruit and garden ranches of the Cowiche, Natchees, and Atahnum. ”

“ At more than half a league off is found the aguada from which the thirsty satisfy their need. A league and a half from this rancho towards the South (we follow this direction) is found another permanent river with an artificial bridge, which cannot be passed in any other way. All the roads are very much overflowed on account of the many ridges which surround them. They call this river Yochalek."
Deserted Village of Temchay. "From this place to an old deserted town called Temchay is three leagues. It has its aguada, but it does not contain water except in the rainy season. ”

“ The actual basin of the Nile is included between about the 22 degree and 39 degree East longitude, and from 3 degrees South to 13 degrees North latitude. The drainage of that vast area is monopolized by the Egyptian river. The Victoria and Albert lakes, the two great equatorial reservoirs, are the recipients of all affluents south of the Equator; the Albert lake being the grand reservoir in which are concentrated the entire waters from the south, in addition to tributaries from the Blue Mountains from the north of the Equator. ”

“ A fertile plain 90 miles long was watered from three rivers by a remarkable system of irrigation. An aqueduct tapping the Muchi River high up in the mountains carried water across the 52valley on an embankment 60 feet high. Remains of a great reservoir between Trujillo and Casa Grande indicate a capacity, of two billion cubic feet of water. The city itself, open to the sea, was protected on the east from land invaders by a thick and lofty wall extending for miles along its borders. ”

“ The damming of the lake, and the accumulation, by this means, of a vast reservoir of water, by rendering more certain and expeditious the navigation of the river, was an exceedingly happy thought And when at length orders were received for his embarkation on the 9th of August, his flotilla was not only borne triumphantly along upon the pile of the impatient waters accumulated for the occasion, but the swelling of the torrent beyond its banks caused wide and unexpected destruction to the growing crops of the Indians on their plantations at Oghkwaga and its vicinity. ”

“ Except during the period prior to the annual rise, when the Blue Nile is practically dry, and the waters of the White Nile fill the empty channel, the stream of the eastern river, being much stronger than that coming from the west, forces the waters of the latter right across the western shore. At all times the effect of the meeting of the two rivers is a striking one. In flood the Blue Nile brings down an immense volume of chocolate-coloured water, and holds back the discharge of the White Nile, ponding this river up and flooding the marshes for many hundred miles up-stream of the junction. ”

“ The party left the vicinity of Cedar City, crossed over the rim of the Great Basin at Kanarra and descended Ash Creek, tributary of the Virgin. A short distance below Toquerville they passed the three Indian cornfields with well made irrigation ditches, to which reference has already been made, and reached the Virgin River at the point where Ash Creek and La Verkin Creek joined it. Escalante called Ash Creek the Rio del Pilar. ”

“ In mountainous districts landslips sometimes occur and block the valley of a stream which then forms a lake. The water gradually rises and eventually flows over the dam and sweeps it away causing a flood, which is of great suddenness and height but decreases very quickly in height as it travels down the valley. In a case which occurred in the Himalayas in 1888 the inhabitants of the valleys, from the dam to the point where the river debouches from the hills, were compelled by Government to vacate all habitations below the probable level of the flood, and no loss of life occurred. ”

“ Ucayali, a branch of the Amazon, stretching to the north-west in a direction somewhat parallel to the Huallaga. There is the essential difference between the two rivers, as avenues for commerce, that the Ucayali is still in the occupation of savage tribes, unchristianized except where under the immediate influence of the mission stations planted among them; while the population of the Huallaga is tolerably advanced in civilization. The following sentences will give a picture of the Indians of the Ucayali: "These people cannot count, and I can never get from them any accurate idea of numbers. ”

“ It had evidently been often used as camping ground by Wara-Sura bands and Toro caravans bound for the Salt Lakes, and as water was far, the tired cooks used the water from some pits that had been excavated by thirsty native travellers. This water created terrible sickness amongst us.
The next day we crossed the Nsongi, a river fifty feet wide and thirty inches deep, and immediately after we began to ascend to the lofty uplands of Uhaiyana, which form, with Eastern Toro, Kitagwenda, and Ankori, the eastern wall of the basin of the Lake Albert Edward. ”

“ The natives who frequent the banks of the river, for the salmon fishery, have no other wood but that which they take floating down. We passed several rapids, and a small stream called Utalah, which flows from the southeast. ”

“ Another group of lakes is to be found in the Laguna district of south-western Coahuila, where the Tlahualila, Mairan, Parras and others occupy a large lacustrine depression and receive the waters of the Nazas and Aguanaval rivers from the south-west (Durango) . The size of this isolated drainage basin is very large, the Nazas River alone having a length of about 370 m. The great Mapimi desert of western Coahuila is another lacustrine depression, but only marshy lagoons remain. ”

“ With the exception of the Ash, but very little cultivable land is found along these creeks. Midway in the valley two streams enter, coming from the Pine Valley Mountains and having small areas of irrigable land along their courses, and near the foot the Santa Clara River adds its water. The united streams leave the valley by a deep cañon cut through the Beaver Dam Mountains. The valley of the Virgin has a lower altitude than any other portion of Utah, and a warmer climate. The soil of the arable lands is usually good, and wherever it is possible to irrigate produces abundant crops. ”

“ Snag-boats have since patrolled the Red River, pulling out thousands of trees every year, and breaking up the rafts, to maintain navigation. The lower course of Red River is very crooked and sluggish, through swamps and lowlands, and near its mouth part of the current, particularly in times of freshet, is diverted into Atchafalaya River, which flows for about two hundred miles southward directly to the Gulf of Mexico. ”

“ This stream is an important branch of the Grand, entering it at the foot of the great valley, after that river has passed around the end of the Uncompahgre Plateau, and just as it plunges into the course of canons by which it passes the Sierra la Sal.
Traveling along the crest-line of the Uncompahgre Plateau, one is interested in observing how sharply the crest-line serves as a water-parting. The drainage toward the west heads in the crest, without cutting it at all. The bluff-wall is everywhere continuous. ”

“ Green River here carries sufficient water to irrigate many times this amount of land, and while the cost for the construction of suitable dams and canals would be greater than on smaller streams, neither this nor the [Pg 163] engineering skill required would be beyond the resources of any ordinary settlement.
Gunnison Valley.—In Gunnison Valley, below the foot of Gray Cañon, are 25 square miles of arable land. The cost of constructing the necessary irrigation works at this point would be greater than above the mouth of the Uinta, but still not beyond the ability of a colony. ”

“ It has but a small coast line on the Pacific in the Bay of Fonseca.
There are many rivers which rise in the interior and wend their way toward the ocean. The principal rivers flow northward and empty their waters into the Gulf of Mexico. Of these the largest is the Ulua, which drains a large expanse of territory and discharges a greater 246amount of water into the sea than any other river of Central America. ”

“ Thus thermic conditions limit agriculture to the lowlands, and here another limit is found in the supply of water. Some of the large streams run in deep gorges so far below the general surface of the country that they cannot be used; for example, the Colorado River runs through the southeastern portion of the Territory and carries a great volume of water, but no portion of it can be utilized within the Territory from the fact that its channel is so much below the adjacent lands. ”