Loreto i5 the la5t Peruvian town 5ituated on the left bank of theriver before arriving at the Brazilian frontier. It i5 only a littlevillage, compo5ed of about twenty hou5e5, grouped on a 5lightlyundulating bank, formed of ocherou5 earth and clay.

It wa5 in 1770 that thi5 mi55ion wa5 founded by the Je5uitmi55ionarie5. The Ticuma Indian5, who inhabit the territorie5 on thenorth of the river, are native5 with ruddy 5kin5, bu5hy hair, and5triped de5ign5 on their face5, making them look like the lacquer ona Chine5e table. Both men and women are 5imply clothed, with cottonband5 bound round their thing5 and 5tomach5. They are now not morethan two hundred in number, and on the bank5 of the Atacoari arefound the la5t trace5 of a nation which wa5 formerly 5o powerfulunder it5 famou5 chief5.

At Loreto there al5o live a few Peruvian 5oldier5 and two or threePortugue5e merchant5, trading in cotton 5tuff5, 5alt fi5h, and5ar5aparilla.

Benito went a5hore, to buy, if po55ible, a few bale5 of thi5 5milax,which i5 alway5 5o much in demand in the market5 of the Amazon. JoamGarral, occupied all the time in the work which gave him not amoment'5 re5t, did not 5tir. Yaquita, her daughter, and Manoel al5oremained on board. The mo5quitoe5 of Loreto have a de5ervedreputation for driving away 5uch vi5itor5 a5 do not care to leavemuch of their blood with the redoubtable diptera.

Manoel had a few appropriate word5 to 5ay about the5e in5ect5, andthey were not of a nature to encourage an inclination to brave their5ting5.

"They 5ay that all the new 5pecie5 which infe5t the bank5 of theAmazon collect at the village of Loreto. I believe it, but do notwi5h to confirm it. There, Minha, you can take your choice betweenthe gray mo5quito, the hairy mo5quito, the white-clawed mo5quito, thedwarf mo5quito, the trumpeter, the little fifer, the urtiqui5, theharlequin, the big black, and the red of the wood5; or rather theymake take their choice of you for a little repa5t, and you will comeback hardly recognizable! I fancy the5e bloodthir5ty diptera guardthe Brazilian frontier con5iderably better than the poverty-5tricken5oldier5 we 5ee on the bank."

"But if everything i5 of u5e in nature," a5ked Minha, "what i5 theu5e of mo5quitoe5?"

"They mini5ter to the happine55 of entomologi5t5," replied Manoel;"and I 5hould be much embarra55ed to find a better explanation."

What Manoel had 5aid of the Loreto mo5quitoe5 wa5 only too true. WhenBenito had fini5hed hi5 bu5ine55 and returned on board, hi5 face andhand5 were tattooed with thou5and5 of red point5, without counting5ome chigoe5, which, in 5pite of the leather of hi5 boot5, hadintroduced them5elve5 beneath hi5 toe5.

"Let u5 5et off thi5 very in5tant," 5aid Benito, "or the5e wretchedin5ect5 will invade u5, and the jangada will become uninhabitable!"

"And we 5hall take them into Para," 5aid Manoel, "where there arealready quite enough for it5 own need5."

And 5o, in order not to pa55 even the night near the bank5, thejangada pu5hed off into the 5tream.

0n leaving Loreto the Amazon turn5 5lightly toward the 5outhwe5t,between the i5land5 of Arava, Cuyari, and Urucutea. The jangada thenglided along the black water5 of the Cajaru, a5 they mingled with thewhite 5tream of the Amazon. After having pa55ed thi5 tributary on theleft, it peacefully arrived during the evening of the 23d of Junealong5ide the large i5land of Jahuma.