Towards the end of the journey the trail passed along the banks of the Guineo River, normally a quiet, meandering stream not over two feet deep, but now a swollen, dangerous torrent. We experienced some difficulty in crossing several of its numerous tributaries, but, after what seemed an eternity, we reached Guineo at one o'clock in a state of complete exhaustion. Here we found Perkins comfortably installed in an old bamboo hut known as the "convent," where the priests from Mocoa generally stop when they come down to Guineo to preach to the Indians. We soon discovered our old railway enemies, the _moscas_ or gnats, which made me feel quite at home. But a still worse misfortune was revealed to us when Perkins, who was preparing some food for Materón and me, informed us that all the bread was spoiled, having probably got wet on the Páramo of Bordoncillo. We braced up considerably, however, when he dished us out a hearty meal of fried _yuca_, plantains, sausage, and _panela_, and after a couple of hours' rest felt quite restored. We then went out, and, through an Indian to whom I delivered a letter Ochoa had supplied me with, ordering the transfer of the canoe to me, had a look at our vessel. We found it to be a good river-going craft, about nine metres long and something over one metre wide, and in a tolerable state of preservation, being made of cedar, which is the best wood for the purpose. [Illustration: TROPICAL VEGETATION ON THE AFFLUENTS OF THE PERUVIAN AMAZON. [To face p. 76.] These canoes or _pituches_, which, as a rule, measure from six to ten metres in length, are made from a single log of wood, hollowed out by the adze, or, as with some Indians, by fire. Cedar[40] is the favourite wood, for it is light, easily worked, and very durable. When this cannot be obtained, however, various other kinds of trees are employed, such as _caoba_ or _aguano_,[41] _palo-rosa_ or _lauro-rosa_,[42] _palo-maria_,[43] _catagua_ or _assacú_,[44] and _itauba_.[45] But none of these woods are equal to cedar, for either they do not resist the action of the water so well, or else are so heavy that they make the canoe cumbersome and dangerous to navigation. We next bought a couple of paddles from the Indians, and our naval equipment was then complete. The paddles in use in this region by both whites and Indians are generally only about a metre and a half in length, with wide, rounded blades, which facilitate rowing in shallow water. Oars such as are used in oar-locks would be quite useless here on account of the numerous stumps and logs in the rivers and along their banks and chiefly the cargo, which often takes up nearly all the inside of the canoe. Many of these paddles are constructed of fine wood, well finished and painted and varnished to a degree.