Another person whom I regarded with almost equal abhorrence was a copper-complexioned rascal named César Lúrquin, the Peruvian _Comisario_ of the Putumayo. This miserable wretch was openly taking with him to Iquitos a little Huitoto girl of some seven years, presumably to sell her as a "servant," for it is a well-known fact that this repugnant traffic in human beings is carried on, almost openly, there. His position was a sinecure, for, instead of stopping on the Putumayo, travelling about there and really making efforts to suppress crime by punishing the criminals, he contented himself with visiting the region four or five times a year--always on the company's launches--stopping a week or so, collecting some children to sell, and then returning and making his "report."
The remaining "first-class" passenger was a Brazilian custom-house inspector, who always travelled with the company's launches in order to see that they did not discharge any cargo while passing through Brazilian territory. He seemed a very quiet chap, I imagine because he did not know Spanish. This gentleman spent most of his time in his hammock, for, like Sánchez and myself, he had no cabin.
Lunch and dinner were very similar to breakfast, for we had the same watery tea, the same stale bread, and the same stinking butter, the only additional dish being a repugnant preparation of codfish. The pirate-captain and his chum, the _comisario_, however, as I ascertained later, after eating a little of this miserable stuff, adjourned to the former's cabin and enjoyed a magnificent spread, all by themselves.
We continued running all night, for the river was swollen and there was no necessity to follow the main channel. At about two o'clock in the afternoon we reached the mouth of the Igaraparaná, which is considerably larger than the Caraparaná and also on the left. Near the junction was a small, cleared area on the high left bank of the Putumayo, and to this we directed our course. Anchoring close to the bank, I perceived that the place was a military post, for, as soon as we approached a number of soldiers--about twenty--and two officers emerged from an old tumble-down structure that sheltered them, and came on board. They all looked ill and emaciated, and their faces and hands were done up in rags to keep off the gnats.