Among the various expeditions into the country made in the nineteenth century, with the express purpose of locating routes of access to the Atlantic for the settlement of European colonies, is the expedition to Cuzco Valley Paucartambo held in 1873. This expedition, commanded by Colonel Baltazar La Torre Mayor and accompanied by H. State Engineer Göhring unfortunately had a fatal outcome.
At that time, as noted in previous post, the Amazon ("mountain") was a huge and unexplored territory, where Republicans were few settlements were isolated and the need for military posts (such as Fort San Ramon, Iquitos and Caballo), due to the hostility of some Amazonian natives, who of course, saw in these people a threat to their way of life, embodied in the infamous raids from the rubber to enslave the natives , diseases such as influenza and smallpox that they were infected, the depredation of the forest, including what motivated not infrequently hostile encounters.
In that situation the year 1873 arrives, Mr. Göhring is intended to undertake exploration Paucartambo Valley to the shores of the Madre de Dios River to find a waterway to take them to the Ucayali and then to Iquitos, a mission previously carried out partially by Nystrom in 1868. The scouting party had the presence of fifty men, twenty sappers, the prefect and engineer. Followed the path until you reach Paucartambo valley estates of San Nazario and Cosñipata, hence the journey to the Mother of God routes in the Indian lands of ethnic sirineiri, Machiguenga and Huachipairis. Early in the trip were met with an Indian whom they named Francisco, who lived with their children and some women and gave them room and board, as well as instructions on how to continue the journey to the Mother of God.
Göhring's report is entered the enormous difficulties which took the expedition due to food shortages, lack of trails and the lack of a raft to explore the river, which is why they had to make one with sticks and logs, calling MARIA (which sank after dumped by the rapids of the river and the difficulty to handle), and a good part of individuals of troops had to return to the farms being reduced staff Cosñipata expeditionary Colonel La Torre, Camilo Cayo Captain, Corporal Rodriguez, Dr. Baldomero Cano, the scribe Mark Palomino, Göhring Engineer, Assistant Porcell Francisco, Captain and Lieutenant José Vicente Chávez Coloma, along with ten soldiers and the cook.
Mother of God arrived to engage with sirineiris, exchanging mirrors, beads and knives for supplies. To see Colonel La Torre writes about them:
"Seeing all this unhappy retreat to people, completely naked men, poor women involved, and creatures like animals, I have not ceased to suffer impressions grieve my spirit and I suggest the most painful reflections.
remembered the huge, enormous sums thrown into the fire of civil discord, to build a personality that often has been nothing but an instrument of political traffickers.
leaders remembered Unfair, by hoarding a fortune for himself and a circle of vampires, on the pretext of large companies, major works have been emptied streams in the foreign exchange all the gold of the Nation.
remembered, finally, that the reproach of the Peruvian civilization, the map of South America termed the unknown , which involves more than the rich Peru, and where a portion of its inhabitants has not even reached the crumbs of the feast that for many years have lived the men, who at the wrong time be entrusted the destiny of the country ... "
is in one of those contacts where Colonel La Torre, due to the absence of rafts, decides to take one of the native, and because of the scarcity of food, invade their farms and eating their crops of cassava and plantains, which led to the outright hostility of the natives, declaring his boss the "war" and urging them to leave the territory. However, the Mayor's Tower, hoping to calm the natives try to approach them again but is greeted with arrows, and was killed along with Dr. Cano and captured the lieutenant Coloma. After that, the expedition decided to retire, due to their small number and difficulty of the terrain traversed. And thus ends the report of H. Göhring on this tragic issue.
------------------ 1. Report to the Supreme Government of Peru on the Expedition to the Valley of Paucartambo in 1873, commanded by Colonel Baltazar La Torre. Lima, Government Printer, 1877.
NOTE: Göhring was one of the pioneers in exploring the Cusco area where the present citadel of Machu Picchu. Even 40 years before Bingham, drew several maps showing their location.
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