Across Unknown South America Part 44

As we are referring to the strange ways of looking at things by different nations, I might as well include the endless arguments I had with my men in selecting our camps. I naturally always selected the cleanest spots with a flat ground, so that the tents could be pitched satisfactorily without extra trouble, where there was little vegetation, and where the water was good. My men always quarrelled over this, and insisted on stopping in the filthiest places, either where some trees, rotted away, had fallen down, where the vegetation on the edge of the river needed cutting, and where the ground had to be levelled before I could pitch my camp bed. They always preferred sleeping under the stifling vegetation to where there was an open s.p.a.ce and we had the clear sky over us.

They all slept in hammocks--the favourite resting arrangement of the Brazilian--to my mind the most uncomfortable and absurd fashion of resting, especially in tropical regions. First of all, it is almost an impossibility to a.s.sume a perfectly horizontal position for your entire body, except--if you are an expert--diagonally; then there is always a certain amount of swing and you are likely to tumble over at any moment; you can never keep the blankets in position, and you expose your entire body to the stings of the mosquitoes, flies and other insects, and of the ants which crawl into your hammock by hundreds from the trees in which they swarm. It was not uncommon when we camped to hear during the night a crash, followed immediately after by oaths. The tree to which one of the hammocks had been fastened had suddenly broken and let the man down with a b.u.mp. Then again, the mischievous ants took the greatest delight during the night in cutting the strings of the hammocks, and on several occasions my followers had nasty falls. Yet the Brazilians swear by hammocks.

Another stream 2 m. wide, coming from the north, entered the Arinos on the right bank. A number of _ariranhas_, attracted by the vivid red of the British flag which was flying at the stern of the canoe, followed us for some time and came courageously to the attack, showing their teeth fiercely at us and snarling frantically. Entire families of those delightful little creatures were seen, and they invariably gave us a similar hearty greeting. They followed us sometimes for hundreds and hundreds of metres, and became most excited when I took the flag and waved it at them, and sometimes placed it near the water in order to drive them frantic.

We now had most beautiful forest on both sides. A stream 5 m. wide joined the Arinos on the left side from the west, forming a charming little waterfall as it entered the main stream. A little farther on the right was another streamlet, coming from the south-east. Generally, as in this case, when we reached tributary streams of any importance, gravel banks extended and blocked a great part of, sometimes even half, the main stream.

A picturesque stream, 8 m. wide, coming from the north-east, was then reached on the right side. It flowed through a rocky gate. Five or six kilometres farther on a tiny streamlet dribbled into the Arinos, and also another, 1 m. wide, on the left bank.

At noon that day the sky was extraordinarily interesting. From the north-west extended a wonderful succession of loop coils of transparent mist, giving the sky the appearance of a peac.o.c.k's extended tail.

Just before we halted for lunch we came to a charming streamlet of delicious water, 2 m. wide, on the right bank.

The days were getting warmer as we advanced farther north. It was hot work sitting in the sun--105 F. that day--to take observations for lat.i.tude and longitude. In the shade the thermometer registered 89 F.

Lat. 12 21'3 S.; long. 57 16' W.

After lunch, 2 kil. from our camp, we pa.s.sed on the left bank a delightful tributary coming from the W.S.W. Its mouth was 8 m. wide, and poured forth waters of the most beautiful emerald green.

Five hundred metres farther down another large tributary, 30 m. wide, coming from the north-east, was observed on the right bank. Farther still, the river formed a large basin 300 m. wide. Lovely forest flourished round the sweeping curve of the basin. There was simply a solid ma.s.s of marvellously fresh foliage, with hardly a break through which, it seemed, a human being could pa.s.s. In that particular part the leaves came right down to the water, but there was no reason to suppose that they grew equally low inland.

The stream, which was 250 m. broad, showed farther on an immense bank of gravel 700 m. long, which rose above the surface in the shape of two long islands--one 300 m., the other 400 m. in length.

We felt the heat considerably going down the river, as we were always in the sun in the centre of the stream, with a temperature seldom less than 105 F. Especially where thick forest was on both sides of us, there seemed to be no air close to the water. When we came to patches of chapada and open country we could breathe a little better. Several were the tributary streamlets to which we came that afternoon. First we saw one rivulet, 1 m. wide, on the right bank, then 13 kil. 500 m. farther on another affluent, 3 m. wide, coming from the north-east, also on the right bank; then 1,500 m. farther a rivulet m. wide, coming from the south-west (left bank); then 4,500 m. farther a charming stream, 6 m.

wide, coming from the north, and meeting with the Arinos near an extensive stony place with shallow and troublesome water. Strong eddies formed at that spot. One more streamlet, 1 m. wide, was reached that day on the right. It came from the north-east.

The river had that day flowed almost continuously in directions varying from north-west to north, barring two sections where its course had been 10 east of north.

After pa.s.sing the last tributary the river described a sweeping curve, gradually turning so far back as to flow in a south-westerly (240 b.m.) direction.

There was there shallow water with gravel banks in the centre of the stream. Curiously enough, we did not notice so much rubber close to the river in that region, but in an excursion a short distance from the water we came upon _Siphonia elastica_ trees, not only along the Arinos but also along the tributaries.

We halted that day at sunset, having gone 73 kil. 400 m.; which, although much less than the previous days, was still fair going for us.

CHAPTER VII

Ideal Islands--Immense _Figueira_ Trees--The "Spider Monkey"--Great Variety of Fish in the Arinos--The Rocky Gateway into Diabolical Waters--Shooting Dangerous Rapids--Cutting a Way through the Forest--A Nasty Rapid--Plentiful Fish

THE night of July 16th was heavy, the thermometer registering a minimum temperature of 62F. We had great fun fishing during the early hours of the night. In the morning we had hundreds of pounds of fish spread upon the bank of the river, with many excellent specimens of the _motimchun_ fish--so called, I believe, because of its noisy and rebellious habits.

The sky was overladen with clouds, and the west showed radiations of light. We had gone 2,500 m. from our camp when we came to a tributary stream on the left side coming from the south. Four thousand four hundred metres farther on, a hill-range 120 ft. high, with heavy forest upon it, encircled a sweeping curve on the left of us to the west and north-west.

The cliff of this range, eroded by the river, showed rock of a vivid red right up to its highest point, laminated in perfectly horizontal layers, each 10 ft. thick. Farther on a great basin 350 m. wide and of great beauty had formed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Leading the Canoe down a Rapid by Rope.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Characteristic Rocky Barrier across the Arinos River.

(Author's s.e.xtant in foreground.)]

Some 10 kil. beyond a beautiful beach of white sand was noticeable on the left bank. We were always glad to see these beaches, as we frequently found on them quant.i.ties of tortoise eggs--most delicious to eat.

An island--Gabriella Island--200 m. long divided the river into two channels, the larger one of which--200 m. wide--we followed; the other being but 30 m. broad and much strewn with rocks. The river, from the point where we met the sand beach, flowed in a S.S.W. direction for 6,500 m., when it gradually resumed its course northward. The island, thickly wooded, was extremely beautiful, with trees of great size upon it.

Quant.i.ties of _ariranhas_ were to be found near this island, and they came straight for us with their mouths open, shrieking wildly and snarling and spitting like cats. I was always amazed at their bravery, as they came right on while being shot at by my men, the reports of the rifles enraging them to absolute frenzy.

Shortly after we came to another most beautiful, oval-shaped island, 350 m. long--Maude Island--in a basin extending from east to west for a breadth of not less than 500 m.

Another island--Vera Island--150 m. long and of an elongated shape, was seen in the same basin. It also had luxuriant vegetation upon it, whereas, curiously enough, the banks on either side of the great basin showed _chapada_ with stunted trees. Farther on, where a small tributary entered the Arinos on the left side, the country seemed quite open beyond the narrow fringe of trees along the water.

Another streamlet 3 m. wide flowed into the Arinos from the north-east on the right bank. The main river there was of a width of 400 m.

Another great island--Luiz Schnoor Island--also most beautiful, like the others, was next seen. We halted on it for our midday meal, and to take the usual astronomical observations. The sky had, by that time, become beautifully clear, of a dense cobalt blue, and I was able to take twenty-three sights of the sun. I generally took a great many sights with the s.e.xtant and artificial horizon, in order to define the lat.i.tude and longitude with greater accuracy. We were then in lat. 11 38'4 S.; long.

57 35' W.

Gorgeous _gamelleira_ or _figueira_ trees (_ficus_) were to be seen on that island, standing high up upon arches formed by vigorous roots. In a way the lower part of those _figueiras_ resembled a huge octopus, the branches being extremely contorted as they clung to the ground in order to support the weight of the giant tree of which they made part. One could easily walk under the tree among the roots and still have six or eight feet of s.p.a.ce left above one's head.

As I went round to explore the island while my men were cooking the dinner, I discovered a small lake in the centre of the island--a most poetic spot, with its neat, delightful vegetation all round it reflected as in a mirror in the golden waters which reproduced in a deeper tone the rich sunset tints of the sky above. I sat myself down to look at the beautiful scene. The poetry vanished at once. There were millions of ants which swarmed all over me the moment I sat down upon the ground, and bit me with such fury that I had to remove my clothes in the greatest haste and jump into the water. That raised a cloud of mosquitoes, which made it most uncomfortable for me when I came out again and was busy searching for ants in my clothes.

My men killed a beautiful long-armed spider monkey. I was sorry, as I had watched the wonderful jumps of this animal from one tree to another.

Using the impetus of the swing which they could obtain from the immense length of their arms, as well as the swing of the branch on which they were hanging, they could fly enormous distances through the air. The span from hand to hand in proportion to the size of the body was really amazing.

Luiz Schnoor Island was 450 m. long. Plenty of rubber trees were to be seen on the right bank of the river after pa.s.sing this great island, especially where the river described a large sweeping curve towards the north-east.

Farther on, close to the right bank, an island 100 m. long and 5 ft.

high, of yellow sand and gravel, showed brilliantly with its vivid colouring upon the blue waters of the river. For identification' sake I named it Gravel Island on the map I was making of the river. I seemed to be in fairyland--but for the company of my men--as I floated down the stream, there 400 m. wide.

We had gone hardly 4 kil. when we came to another ideal island--Margherita Island--400 m. long and 200 m. wide, with magnificent trees upon it. A small stream joined the Arinos on the left side. Lower down stream we had thin forest on both sides, with some remarkable _oleo_ trees, with their minute grey leaves and the branches, laden with red berries, drooping--weeping-willow-like--right down in the water.

Next we came to sand and gravel banks with islets 1 ft. high emerging from the water in the centre of the river, all those little islets displaying verdant gra.s.s on their southern side and pure white sand on the northern side.

The river was at that point flowing in a N.N.E. direction. Then came a long straight line of 6,000 m. of river flowing to 305 b.m. About half-way through this long stretch the stream divided into two large arms, one in direct continuation of the above bearings, the other in a curve, encircling an island 1,000 m. broad. The basin--as still as a lake--in which this island was situated was not less than 1,500 m.

across. The island--Charles Landor Island--was 2,000 m. in length. It had plenty of rubber trees upon it, and plenty were to be seen also on the banks. We went some 8 or 10 kil. farther that night, and at five o'clock we halted, having made poor progress that day--only 60 kil.

Immense quant.i.ties of fish could be seen in the river. No sooner had we made camp than we got out lines and hooks of all sizes, which we baited with pieces of _toucinho_. One end of the bigger lines we made fast to trees, as the fish we often caught were so powerful that on several occasions they had dragged us into the water and we lost not only the fish but the line as well. We had great sport that night and caught quant.i.ties of _trahira_ (_Macradon trahira_)--not unlike a giant salmon and quite as good to eat; and also some _surubim_ (_Platystoma Lima_), a large fish belonging to the herring family. The surubim was flat-headed, and not unlike the pintado fish which I have described in a previous chapter. It had thin scales over the body, and an abnormally powerful lower jaw, with vicious-looking, sharply-pointed teeth on the edge of the upper and lower lip. These curiously situated teeth were far apart, and so firmly inserted in the hard lips that it took a violent blow to remove them.

Although after a few minutes we had killed fish enough to last us--had we been able to preserve it--for some weeks, my men sat up the greater part of the night hauling quant.i.ties to the bank. The excitement each time a fish 80 or 100 lb. in weight was hauled out of the water was considerable. The wild yells and exquisite language whenever one of my men was dragged into the water kept me awake the entire night.

We left that camp at 7.30 on July 17th, the minimum temperature having been 66 F. during the night. Heavy globular clouds covered the entire sky. We were then in a region extraordinarily rich in rubber; quant.i.ties of _Siphonia elastica_ trees were to be seen. It made one's heart bleed to think that n.o.body was there to collect the riches of that wonderful land.

The river flowed in short sections from north-west to north-north-east, barring a long stretch of 4,000 m., when we came to a great basin 600 m.

wide, with two large islands in it; the eastern island--Orlando Island--being 100 m. wide, the western--Elizabeth Chimay Island--220 m.

broad and not less than 500 m. long. South of both these islands were islets of gravel 50 m. each in diameter.

Nine thousand five hundred metres below these islands an important tributary, 8 m. wide, flowed into the Arinos from the right bank. It came from the south-east. Close to the left bank, from which it had been separated by the current, leaving a channel only 5 m. wide, another island--Isabel Island--300 m. long was found.

Shortly afterwards we came to a big equilateral-triangular island--Armida Island--fully 1 kil. a side. Albert Island, next to it, was of a narrow elongated shape.