Leticia was the name of the Peruvian frontier post, which consisted of
two or three brick sheds with corrugated iron roofs.

We arrived at Iquitos on December 23rd, at 8.30 a.m., having employed
seven days and twenty hours on our run from Manaos.

CHAPTER XXV

From Iquitos to the Foot of the Andes up the Rivers Ucayalli,
Pachitea and Pichis--The Cashibos or "Vampire Indians"

THE change in the characteristics of the people the moment you were in
Peru was considerable, and striking was the neatness of the buildings.
Iquitos was a pleasant little city, the streets of which needed paving
badly, but were otherwise well aligned and tidy. There were numbers of
foreigners there, including a small English colony made up of employes of
the Booth Line and the representatives of a few commercial houses. It is
difficult to realize how pleasant Englishmen can be when they live in
those out-of-the-way places.

After the Putumayo atrocities a proper English Consulate, in charge of
Mr. Mitchell, formerly our vice-consul in Paris, had been established
there. Yellow fever was rampant at that time in Iquitos, and reaped many
victims daily.

Although Iquitos was 2,300 kil. farther up the river than Manaos, the
price of all commodities in that country was less than half those in
Manaos, and the quality of the articles twice as good. That is what comes
of having free trade instead of a high tariff.

I spent a pleasant Christmas in Iquitos, all the English residents there
showing me the greatest kindness. From Iquitos the river was no longer
navigable for ocean-going steamers, and it was necessary to travel by
small launches. There was no regular service, but there were a number of
trading launches which went a certain distance up the river in order to
trade with the different houses on the banks of the stream. The
travelling was not particularly rapid, as one stopped ten or twenty times
a day, and wasted endless time while the people came on board to buy beer
or rum, or cotton goods, looking-glasses, etc., etc. Rubber and
aigrettes, as well as money, were given in exchange for the goods
received.

I left Iquitos on December 29th, on the launch _Rimac_, belonging to the
Swiss firm of Messikommer. I was told that she would be ready to start at
9 a.m. sharp on December 28th, and at that time I got on board. The
actual time of our departure was at 6.30 in the afternoon of December
29th. That was, of course, Iquitos