We had not intended stopping here for more than an hour or so, but shortly after our arrival Perkins was attacked by a heavy dose of fever, and as López pressed us to stay, we were glad to accept his invitation. I spent most of the time in conversation with our host, who kindly supplied me with considerable information about the region of the Caraparaná. In the course of this conversation I learned that there was considerable ill-feeling between the Colombians of that section and the Peruvians on account of the boundary dispute and the aggressions of the latter, who are much more numerous than the Colombians and all employees of a large firm which has its headquarters in Iquitos and is known as the Peruvian Amazon Company. López informed me that this company, planning to get possession of the rubber estates of the Colombians of the Caraparaná, had influenced the Peruvian officials at Iquitos, in open violation of the _modus vivendi_, to send troops up to help expel them, and that, moreover, these troops had just arrived. Somewhat taken aback at this rather interesting information and not wishing to get mixed up in any frontier disputes, I asked López if it were not possible to avoid passing through that region and cross over by some _varadero_[89] to the River Napo, as his partner had done. He replied that there were several _varaderos_ we could take, the best one being near an establishment known as Remolino--some five-days journey down the river--which belonged to the Colombian company of Ordoñez and Martínez. These gentlemen, López went on to inform me, had plenty of Indians in their service, and, in addition to lending us the necessary number of _cargadores_, would probably be glad to buy our canoe and such effects as we did not desire to take with us. This advice seemed reasonable, and I determined to act on it. The next morning found Perkins no better, so we had to prolong our stay. In the course of my conversations with López, who seemed to take life pretty easily, I learned that all the rubber produced in this section of the Putumayo is an inferior kind of _jebe_ or _siringa_, known technically as _jebe débil_ or weak-fine rubber. Such large quantities of it are produced, however, and at such a small cost, especially in the Caraparaná and Igaraparaná districts, that its poor quality is more than compensated for. López furthermore told me that he had several _racionales_ and a number of Indians employed on his inland estates. The former he paid a salary, while the Indians exchanged the rubber they collected for merchandise.