Sparse raindrops fell from the deep, heavy sky, neither fast nor slow, landing without a sound. A loose, open wind drifted along the long river, neither cold nor warm, just right. It was the season of late-summer autumn harvest, yet in the deep mountain forests there was no drifting fragrance of ripened grain, only ever-blooming flower trees drawing swarms of hummingbirds and flower butterflies.
The exploration fleet stayed in Eight Hundred Town for two days before setting sail again. Battalion Commander Pimon personally led two hundred warriors and eight hundred captured young men along the Talsas River to follow. The expedition fleet, fully loaded with the group's food, went upstream. After forty li, they met their first obstacle—the first three-way river mouth.
"This is the river mouth to the east."
Pimon leaned on his long spear, standing on the rocky riverbank mudflat strewn with jagged stones. He pointed to the upstream north of the river mouth, then to the southern fork.
"North of the river mouth is the upper course flowing out of the mountains. Next, we turn north and keep going upstream. The mountains to the north are steep, and the river channel is steep too. Starting from here, the young men will have to haul the boats by rope."
Chiwako stood on tiptoe, gazing at the layered mountains to the north and the hawks wheeling over the peaks, his face filling with amazement.
"What a great stretch of mountains! One after another, winding and twisting, with no end in sight!"
Then he looked southward, at the similarly vast mountains and the narrow tributary, and asked aloud.
"Where does this branching tributary flow to?"
"I haven't walked it myself. The local guides say the Atoyac River has many branches, all flowing south into the lowland Mixtec people's territory, and