Across Unknown South America Part 45

From the beginning of Armida Island the river flowed for 4,000 m. in a direct line to 310 b.m. Four large rocks in a cl.u.s.ter stood in the centre of the stream at the north-north-westerly end of the island. Then we had another stretch of 4,300 m., during which the river was squeezed through a narrow neck, 100 m. wide, between low rocks. Immediately afterwards we emerged into a bay 800 m. broad, with three islets on one side of it. They were rather dry and somewhat mean-looking. I called them Faith, Hope, and Charity Islands.

After that the river was 800 m. wide. A deposit of gravel some 300 m.

long was exposed on the right side beyond the last island of the group.

Three kilometres farther we halted for an hour or so, just time enough for me to take the lat.i.tude and longitude and for our lunch to be cooked.

The usual torture had to be endured from the innumerable insects. The heat was also terrible--107 F. in the sun, 93 in the shade. Lat. 11 23'9 S.; long. 57 39' W.

When we left, we saw 3,500 m. beyond our halting place, beside a great heap of rocks on the left side of the river, a rivulet, 3 m. wide, entering the Arinos on the left.

From that spot the river was contracted from a width of 800 m. to one of only 120 m. Naturally the water was of great depth and the current swift.

Two great volcanic rocks stuck out in the centre of the stream, and two extensive heaps of volcanic rock stood on the right side of us, the rocks being at all angles in a confused ma.s.s. Where these rocks were--a spot which my men called the "porteira" or gateway--the river turned sharply from 70 b.m. to 290 b.m. The water seemed almost stagnant there, and we had to make a great effort to get on. It seemed as if there had been an undercurrent pushing us back. The water was surely held up by some obstacle, and I feared we had at last reached the extensive rapids which I had expected for some days. Rocks were to be seen in abundance all along, and three more sets of giant boulders were reached, one after the other, in the centre of the river, there only 150 m. broad. Strange heaps of broken-up boulders of immense size were to be seen on the right bank; then farther on more great heaps in confusion on the left bank.

A tiny rivulet found its way among the rocks on the right side. The channel was much strewn with dangerous submerged rocks. I thought I would take the navigation into my own hands for a little while, and found a comparatively easy channel on the left side of the river close to the bank.

As I had expected, the rumbling noise of troubled waters was getting louder and louder, and the whitish mist which rose above the horizon line was an unmistakable sign that we had come to a dangerous spot. Soon after, in fact, we arrived at a large circular basin, some 600 m. in diameter, with rocks in the centre of it. Two cl.u.s.ters of magnificent rocks, 30 ft. high, towered on the left side of the river. Then came a long row of rocks, also gigantic, and a sandy beach which had acc.u.mulated against them. A little farther another great ma.s.s of rocks in disorder stood up against the now once more fierce current.

We made our way tentatively along what seemed to us the safest channel, to 320 b.m., and with trepidation shot the rapids, which were quite fearsome. I must say for my men that by now they had acquired a certain amount of courage--courage, like all things, being a matter of training after all. We went down at a terrific speed amidst the splashing waters, shaving dangerous rocks and escaping collision by miracle. When we got to the bottom of the rapid we were shot into the whirlpool, which we might have avoided with ease had Alcides obeyed the orders I shouted to him.

When I had shot the rapids before in other countries, I had always avoided getting into the centre of the whirlpool; but Alcides, who had never navigated a river before, held the contrary idea, and always insisted on steering the canoe right into the centre of those dangerous rotating waters.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Whirlpool at End of Rapid.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: In Shallow Water.]

It was sufficient to remonstrate as I did, for Alcides to do a thing over and over again with the persistency of a mule, in order to maintain what he thought was his _amour-propre_. As it was, on that occasion, the canoe swerved round with such force that she nearly turned over, and got so filled with water that we had to struggle out of the difficulty as best we could and beach her, or she would have sunk.

At that point an island 400 m. long and 50 m. wide divided the river into two channels. The western channel had a small island of white sand and many rocks on its southern side. Pretty yellow flowers grew wherever a little earth had acc.u.mulated upon the rocks.

After going 1,800 m. we found a great basin 600 m. wide with a rocky island and barrier right across it.

Farther on innumerable rocks of all sizes could be seen on the left bank; and 1,500 m. beyond these, where a solid rock rose in the centre of the stream, eddies of wonderful power were produced in the stream.

We glanced at a magnificent island of rock on the left side as we sped along swiftly with the current; but we were so busy with the difficult navigation, and expecting accidents at any moment--what else could I expect with the disobedient, unpractical, obstinate crew I had with me?--that I had not much time to admire the picturesqueness of the scenery.

I had quite foreseen that it was impossible to avoid disaster sooner or later, so that all I could do was to think of which would be the best way to minimize its effects, when it did come.

In the great circular basin which was formed in the river there was a pa.s.sage to the west, which I did not like at all, so I ordered my men to follow the pa.s.sage to the north-east. We met there violent eddies which knocked the canoe about in a most alarming manner soon after we had descended a short rapid of some steepness.

Our baggage was simply soaked owing to the amount of water we had shipped on various occasions during the day. We saw ahead of us, only a short distance off, a rapid of some magnitude. We decided to halt at four o'clock in order that we might go and explore on foot along the bank and see whether the canoe could be navigated down, or if we had better unload her and let her down with ropes. We cut a s.p.a.ce in the forest, which was there thick, in order to make our camp. We spread all our things to dry during the night. The air was stifling--we had a minimum temperature of 73 F. (July 18th).

I took the accurate elevation of the camp with the hypsometrical apparatus, water boiling at that spot at 2104, with the temperature of the air 73 F.; alt.i.tude 1,113 ft. above sea level. I also took observations for lat.i.tude and longitude: Lat. 11 17'5 S.; long. 57 37'

W. We had to remain the entire morning in order to cut a way through the forest and take part of the most valuable baggage on men's backs until a point below the rapids was reached.

We named that place Camp Jahu, as we caught there several enormous fish of that name.

In a reconnaissance we made we found that from Camp Jahu we had to take the canoe along among innumerable rocks scattered in the only navigable channel on the north side of a basin 700 m. wide, with a large island 350 m. wide--Sarah Island--on the southern side of the bay, and another smaller island almost in the centre of the basin. There was a drop 2 ft.

high--a regular step--in a barrier of sharply-pointed rocks. We had some two hours' hard work in order to get the canoe safely down. The rocks were so close together that we could not find a pa.s.sage large enough for the canoe, and we actually had to pull her out of the water over some rocks and then let her down gently on the other side.

After leaving that great _pedraria_ there was a clear basin 250 m. wide, ending where two enormous heaps of rock formed a giant gateway. An island, 80 m. wide--Rebecca Island--was found near the left cl.u.s.ter of rocks. Another small island had formed close to the right of the river.

We descended by the north-easterly pa.s.sage, only 4 m. wide, where the current was extremely swift but the rapid comparatively easy to negotiate.

We then followed the channel flowing to 350 b.m., and after pa.s.sing innumerable rocks made our camp again before coming to a large rapid which we heard rumbling in that direction.

We had worked hard all that day, and all the progress we had made by sunset was a distance of 2,000 m.--or a little more than one mile.

Alcides, Antonio and I immediately proceeded to cut a trail through the forest from that point down to the end of the rapid, 1,200 m. farther down. Then we proceeded to take all the baggage upon our shoulders--a task which occupied several hours. I was greatly surprised to find that the men did this willingly enough, although they were unaccustomed to carrying and the loads were heavy. They laughed heartily at one another as they struggled under the heavy weights, or trod upon thorns, or were jerked about with knocking against trees--the pa.s.sage we had cut being necessarily not s.p.a.cious.

I had not seen my men so jolly for a long time--in fact, I do not remember ever having seen them so jolly. I was in hopes that this state of affairs might last, as it was certainly not pleasant to be travelling in such usually morose company.

During the night we caught an immense jahu, weighing over 50 lb., as well as some 200 lb. of smaller fish. As the bank of the stream was rather high and steep, we had a great deal of trouble to land the larger fish safely. Some of my men had exciting experiences, one man falling into the water on receiving a powerful blow from the tail of the struggling jahu.

The scene was a comic one, the terror of the man being amusing to watch.

We carried a great quant.i.ty of salt; with it my men set out to preserve the best portions of the fish we had caught--a precaution of which I fully approved.

I noticed that whenever we came across rocky places the number of insects increased to an enormous extent, especially mosquitoes and gnats. I think it was due princ.i.p.ally to the fact that in those rocks many cavities were found which got filled with stagnant water which eventually became putrefied.

The place where we halted we called Abelha Camp, because of the millions of bees which worried us to death there, not to speak of the swarms of flies, mosquitoes and ants, and myriads of b.u.t.terflies which came to settle in swarms upon us. It was indeed curious to note the wonderful tameness of the latter, as they had never seen a human being before.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fishing on the Arinos: a Jahu.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fish of the Arinos River.]

There was a nasty-looking rapid close to the camp. We had to let the empty canoe down carefully by means of ropes, my men on that particular occasion donning their lifebelts again, although they walked on dry land when they were taking the canoe along. When I asked them why they put them on, they said that perhaps the canoe might drag them into the water and they had no wish to get drowned.

We left that camp late in the afternoon--at three o'clock--having wasted the entire morning conveying the canoe to a spot of safety and then carrying all the baggage along overland.

After having gone some 2 kil. farther we came to another rapid and a _pedraria_ with nasty rocks right across the channel, the only pa.s.sage I could see possible for our canoe being in the centre of the stream. That channel was only a few metres wide, and had in the centre of it a large rock just under the surface, which flung the water up in the air. We just managed to shoot that rapid safely, although with trembling hearts.

Farther down, rocks innumerable, rising only two or three feet above water, spread half-way across the channel from the right side. Then rapids and strong eddies were encountered. For 700 m. the river showed foliated rock strewn all along on both banks, and great volcanic boulders of a more rounded shape. The foliation showed a dip westward of 45.

We were delighted when we discovered in that region many _solveira_ or _sorveira_ trees, or milk trees, exuding when incised milk most delicious to drink. Then there were plenty of _figueiras_ or _gameilleiras_ and wild bananas. We wasted much time extracting milk from the _solveiras_ and eating wild fruit.

Monkeys were to be seen in that part. They seemed most astonished on perceiving us, and came quite close, gazing at us in the most inquisitive manner.

We felt that we had come to a real heaven on earth, except for the river, which could have given points to the River Styx of infernal fame.

When we returned to the canoe we found obstructions of all kinds in the stream. Small rapid succeeded small rapid. Rocky islets and scattered rocks rendered navigation complicated.

Where the river turned sharply to the N.N.E. another dangerous rapid was reached, with rocks scattered all over the channel, some just submerged.

We tried to shoot that rapid on the east side, but we got badly stuck on a submerged rock, and once more the canoe filled with water. It took us the best part of an hour to extricate ourselves from our uncomfortable position.

A beautiful island 400 m. long and 200 m. wide--Maria Island--was then reached. It had a long spur of white sand at its south-easterly end, and pretty vegetation upon it. Strange domes of rock were near by, one particular dome of great size showing a spit of white sand 70 m. long, on its north-westerly side. Many other islets of rock rose above the water along the bank of the larger island, while rapids of some magnitude existed at the end of the island.

We hardly ever came to a stretch of placid water. No sooner had we left the last rapid than, the river turning sharply at that point, we went over a strong _corrideira_, so strewn with obstacles that in the terrific current we had a narrow escape of having our unmanageable, long canoe smashed against one of the innumerable rocks.

As we went on at a great speed I had just time to notice rocks of all sizes and shapes along both banks, and strange rocks in the middle of the river, one or two of them with stunted trees growing in fissures which had become filled with earth.