he scene with their tranquil
stolidity. A glass of brandy to the unfortunate would always compose
his nerves again, and make him hope for a few more accidents of a like
nature and bringing a like consolation.

[Illustration: "THE MAMABAMBA WAS CROSSED BY AN EXTEMPORIZED BRIDGE."]

The bridge of the Mamabamba conducted the party to a site of the same
name, through an interval of forest where might be counted most of the
varieties of tree proper to the equatorial highlands. Up to this point
the vegetation everywhere abounding had not indicated the presence, or
even the vicinage, of the cinchona. The only circumstance which brought
it to the notice of the inexperienced leaders of the expedition would be
a halt made from time to time by the Bolivian bark-hunters. The
examinador and his cascarilleros, touching one tree or another with
their hatchets, would exchange remarks full of meaning and
mysteriousness; but when the colonel or Mr. Marcoy came to ask the
significance of so many hints and signals, they got the invariable
answer of Sister Anna to the wife of Bluebeard: "I see nothing but the
forest turning green and the sun turning red." The most practical
reminder of the quest of cinchona which the travelers found was an
occasional _ajoupa_ alone in the wilderness, with a broken pot and a
rusted knife or axe beneath it--witness that some eager searcher had
traveled the road before themselves. The cascarilleros are very
avaricious and very brave, going out alone, setting up a hut in a
probable-looking spot, and diverging from their head-quarters in every
direction. If by any accident they get lost or their provisions are
destroyed, they die of hunger. Doctor Weddell, on one occasion in
Bolivia, landed on the beach of a river well shaded with trees. Here he
found the cabin of a cascarillero, and near it a man stretched out upon
the ground in the agonies of death. He was nearly naked, and covered
with myriads of insects, whose stings had hastened his end. On the
leaves which formed the roof of the hut were the remains of the
unfortunate man's clothes, a straw hat and some rags, with a knife, an
earthen pot containing the remains of his last meal, a little maize and
two or three _chunus_. Such is the end to which their hazardous
occupation exposes the bark-collectors--death in the midst of the
forests, far from home; a death without help and without consolation.

It was not until after passing the elevated site of San Pedro