Across Unknown South America Part 51

Another immense barrier of rocks with most troublesome rapids extended from south-west to north-east right across the stream. That seemed a great place for snakes, especially in the narrow and tortuous channel which we followed, between a great island--Victor Emmanuel Island--and the left bank. We were going along fairly gaily when I saw a huge snake--another _sucuriu_--floating upon the water among the foliage and branches of a fallen tree. The section of the body which I could perceive measured fully 2 ft. in diameter, and I must say that for one moment--we were only about 20 ft. away from it--I was somewhat surprised, as my quickly calculating mind constructed in my imagination a snake at least 100 ft. long. My men immediately took to their rifles, and were about to open a fusillade, but I stopped them, not caring to disturb the sleep of so gigantic a reptile. It was with some relief that, as the canoe floated quietly a little farther, I perceived the head of the snake resting gracefully in a sound slumber upon a branch of the tree out of the water.

The head was of more normal proportions. We landed a little distance away as quietly as possible, my men trembling all over with excitement and fear in case the reptile should wake up. Then all together they opened a fusillade until a bullet actually struck the snake and it wriggled about.

There was a stampede of all my men through the foliage and plants which grew along the stream. The snake was dead. When they had made quite sure that life was extinct my men returned and pulled the snake out of the water. Although the section we had seen floating was so big, the rest of the body was not more than 4 in. in diameter. The snake had eaten an entire _veado_ (deer), and that was the cause of the great swelling of the central part of its body. The shape of the devoured animal could be seen plainly inside it. The photograph of the reptile which I took is given in one of the ill.u.s.trations of this book. The light was not good for photographic purposes, as it was late in the afternoon and the snake, which after all was only 18 ft. 5 in. long, lay under the shadow of the foliage, which made photography rather difficult. As I was trying to get a second photograph my men proceeded with their knives to open the snake and see what was inside. The terrific odour which ensued when they did so made us violently ill, causing desperate vomiting. I have seen it stated, in some books which have been published about South America, that snakes of incredible length are believed to exist on that continent. Undoubtedly the notion has been suggested by the fact that inexperienced travellers have seen immensely broad traces of snakes along the soft ground near rivers. Measuring the diameter of those trails they came to the conclusion that the snake was 80 to 100 ft. long, and without taking further trouble to ascertain they stated they had actually seen a snake of that length. Whereas, as a matter of fact, as in the case I have described, the immense diameter of the snake was merely in the section which enclosed some big animal which had been swallowed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: An Easy Rapid.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Going through a Narrow Channel.]

CHAPTER XI

A Family of _Ariranhas_--Attacked by them--Three Nasty Rapids--Beautiful Sand Beaches--Exciting Experiences--Going down a Thundering Cataract--Alcides' Narrow Escape--A Night's Work in the Midst of a Foaming Rapid in order to rescue the half-submerged Canoe--Filippe's Courage--Visited by a Snake 20 ft. long

WE camped some hundred metres away from the spot where we had killed the _sucuriu_. It was getting late. My men did not sleep a wink the whole night, as they thought perhaps the mate of the snake might come and pay us a visit. We had a lively time the entire night, as we had made our camp over the home of a family of _ariranhas_. They had their young in a small grotto in the bank, and we heard them all night squealing for their mothers, who were grinding their teeth and shrieking furiously a little way off from the bank, not daring to enter their homes while we were near. They were, I think, more frightened of the fire which my men had made than they were of us. There were twenty or thirty of them, and they made so much noise during the night that it was quite out of the question to rest. The vegetation was very thick, the damp considerable, and the air quite stifling, with a minimum temperature of 60 F. Occasionally, when the air moved at all, we could smell our friend the dissected _sucuriu_.

We were glad to leave at eight o'clock the next morning; we seldom could make an earlier start, owing to the slowness of my men in getting their breakfast and mine ready, and reloading the canoe, as all the baggage was taken out every night. Where we had made camp, Victor Emmanuel Island came to an end, the length of the island being some 14 kil. We had great fun just before leaving, the _ariranhas_ coming boldly to attack us as we were getting into the canoe. Our dogs, which had been squealing and growling the whole night at the unmusical shrieks of the _ariranhas_, now jumped into the water, and there was a fierce fight between them and the amphibious animals. My men, as usual, fired a great many shots.

Eventually we recovered our dogs and started off once more on our journey.

The river flowed from that point at first mostly in a north-easterly direction and in a somewhat winding course; then gradually tended toward the north-west. In the western part of a large basin 1,200 m. broad were two islands and innumerable rocks. Then, farther on, one more long rocky barrier extended from north-west to south-east in the north-western part of the basin. Once more did we have to let the canoe down the terrific rapids by means of ropes.

Where the river turned to the north-west it was 500 m. wide and most beautiful. A great many islands were seen, and innumerable rocks barred the entrance of the channel at the end of the basin above described. Soon after, however, we entered another basin 1,000 m. wide, with more islands and rapids fairly easy to negotiate. Once more did the river turn due north for 6,000 m., after we had gone over another swift and most troublesome rapid, where we had to unload our baggage and take the canoe down carefully with ropes. After that we entered a long channel strewn with rocks. We had not gone far when another strong rapid was encountered, over another great barrier of rock. No sooner had we negotiated that difficult pa.s.sage than another great barrier of rock, also from south-west to north-east, had to be gone over through a troublesome rapid.

My men were getting tired of exploring, and were perplexed, because the more dangers we surmounted the greater seemed the dangers confronting us.

They were beginning to lose the nerve they had temporarily acquired, and were now so scared at the vicious waters that they tried to keep the canoe all the time close to the banks or islands, the river being so deep that they thought this was the best way of saving their lives in case we had a bad accident. The current was extraordinarily swift, and to make things worse a strong north-easterly wind blew with great fury, driving us back and producing such high waves that our canoe was constantly filled with water. The result of keeping so close to the bank, and having our heads continually brushed by the foliage which overhung the stream, was that each time we came in contact with the branch of a tree thousands of ants would drop on to the canoe and upon us, and would bite us furiously. This was most trying--an additional torture to that we had to endure of being stung all over by other insects which followed the canoe in swarms.

We had not gone much farther along when within 1,000 m. we came to three nasty rapids in succession, over barriers of great rocks intersected by interesting veins of quartz. From that point the river was fairly straight for 7 kil. We had that morning encountered five troublesome rapids, which had given us endless work. When we halted we were simply ravenous. We were fortunate enough to get plenty of fish for lunch, and while my men were enjoying a hearty feast I took the usual astronomical observations, eaten all over as I was by mosquitoes and _piums_, while bees innumerable had settled on my face and arms. The lat.i.tude was 9 40'4 S.; the longitude 58 34' W. The bees had a most peculiar pungent odour, which they seemed to leave on one's skin when they had walked on it. We kept our heads wrapped up in towels; but even then we suffered a great deal.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Dangerous Vortex.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Preparing the Canoe to go down a Rapid.]

When we started in the afternoon we continued to travel in a direction of 330 b.m., and came to a large basin, easily identifiable by subsequent travellers by three extensive domes of granite on the right side, two of them actually on the bank of the stream at the entrance of the basin.

Where an elongated island, 3,000 m. long--Oriana Island--beside which we had travelled, ended on our left, we saw another island that continued half-way down the basin, here some 2,000 m. wide. The second island--Diana Island--was fully 8,000 m. in length. In the centre of this great basin was a triangular island--Pomona Island--4,000 m. long and with a base of 1,500 m. A tributary was visible on the right bank, just opposite a great dome of granite with an appendix of sand and gravel which stood in the middle of the channel. After we had travelled for 2,500 m., a basin some 1,400 m. wide opened again, with a small island, 400 m. long, in the centre--M. Adams Island. This charming islet had a picturesque headland of rock on the south side, and a long spur, also of rock, to the north. We made our camp here. The river was really marvellously beautiful at this point, the vegetation all round being vigorous and healthy, with a great wealth of rubber trees, while the huge volcanic rocks strewn about added much to the picturesqueness of the scene.

It was warm during the night (minimum temperature 63 F.), and we were treated to a most tormenting concert of mosquitoes. They swarmed positively in millions around us. With my bed and bedding which I had lost in the rapids I had unfortunately also lost my mosquito net, and I now was suffering greatly from the stings of all the troublesome insects.

My bones were aching all over from sleeping on the uneven packing-cases placed in a row which now formed my bed. It took too much time and trouble to unfasten the straps and buckles which kept the boxes tightly closed, and they did not add to the comfort when one lay spread on them.

When we left in the morning of July 28th, going along a beautiful stretch of close upon 25 kil. in great expanses from 4,000 to 6,000 m. long, we pa.s.sed first of all an elongated quadrangular island 1,500 m. long; then farther on great ma.s.ses of volcanic rock. At the end of that stretch the river divided into two channels separated by an equilateral-triangular island, the side of which was 2,000 m.--Minerva Island. Another island, also of great beauty, and with a considerable number of rubber trees upon it, was found a little farther, and there a bar of sand spread beneath shallow water right across the stream.

We had gone 31,500 m. that morning. When we found a most beautiful beach of lovely sand we could not resist the temptation of halting on it to prepare our lunch. Our surprise was great when we set foot on the beach to hear shrill whistles beneath us. The beach was formed of whistling--or singing--sand. The reason the sand was musical was because some large insects had bored thousands of holes of great depth into its moistened ma.s.s, which allowed the holes to retain their form. When the sand was trodden the pressure drove the warmish air contained in those holes with great force through the contracted apertures and caused a sharp whistling and occasionally quite melodious notes.

I again took observations for lat.i.tude and longitude at this place, but I was beginning to find the work too heavy--not the observing in itself, but the computing of all the observations, at which I was not particularly quick. (Lat. 9 24' S.; Long. 58 40' W.) Also, the great care which I had to take of the chronometer under most difficult circ.u.mstances was a trial to me, considering the numberless things I had to look after. The only little comfort I had on that journey had been my camp bed, on which I could, if not sleep soundly, at least rest my weary bones for a few hours at night. That had now gone, and I was beginning to feel the strain of the hard work, constant mental exertion, and the total lack of rest.

We had pa.s.sed a great number of islands in the morning: one 2,000 m.

long--Melusine Island; another 300 m.--Ja.n.u.s Island; a third 3,000 m.--Midas Island--by the side of which was another enormous island, some 6,000 m. in length--Miranda Island. Then little islets 200 and 250 m.

long, and another big island, 2,000 m. from end to end--A. Mas Island.

Most beautiful sandy beaches were now constantly seen, mostly, like the one on which we had landed, composed of singing sand. (Some of those beaches were 200 and 300 m. long.) The beach on which we had landed for lunch was at the southern end of a great island, 5,700 m. long, which I named Queen Mary Island.

We left again that afternoon, travelling fairly speedily, chiefly in W.N.W. and S.S.W. directions, varying from 290 b.m. to 230 b.m. When we came to the end of Queen Mary Island, after pa.s.sing some really remarkable beaches on which we found a great many turtles' eggs, we came to a large basin, 1,800 m. across, with numberless rocks scattered on the north and south sides of it. The river there flowed due west; in fact, those rocks formed a kind of corona all around the great circle. A crescent-shaped island, 2,800 m. long--Giselle Island--was next pa.s.sed.

The channel through which we went was full of dangerous rocks, and had a width of 280 m.

Soon after another basin 1,600 m. broad was reached, with a formidable barrier of islets and rocks spreading from south to north. The river there flowed in a perfectly straight course for 10 kil. to 310 b.m. A most extraordinary-looking islet with a circular terrace of rock on the east side of it, which was pa.s.sed in mid-stream, was surrounded by a giant crown of pyramidal rocks of great height emerging in sharp points from the water. We had gone but 6,000 m. of that distance when we came to an island on the right side with a gorgeous spit, also of musical sand, 300 m. long. The island itself was only 700 m. long including the sand-spit--Kuvera Island. We were then in an immense basin with leaden waters as still as those of a pond.

We made our camp in a most picturesque spot, an immense beach forming innumerable indentations, really like small dunes of sand deposited by water. The accurate elevation of that place was, according to the observations taken with the hypsometrical apparatus, 967 feet, water boiling at that spot at 210 3, and the temperature of the atmosphere being 72 F. The indented beach, not unlike a giant double-comb, was at the beginning of a great island which I named James Dewar Island, in honour of the great discoverer of liquid air. The minimum temperature during the night of July 29th was 55 F.

Since we had come to the enormous sand acc.u.mulations along the stream the troublesome insects which worried us day and night seemed to have doubled or trebled in numbers, and we suffered positive torture from them, especially when we landed anywhere.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Narrow Pa.s.sage in the Arinos River.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Treble Vortex.

(The water revolved in three different directions in succession.)]

We left fairly early in the morning, finding soon afterwards a group of sharply pointed rocks, some above the surface of the stream, some--most dangerous--just under the surface. Another basin, 1,000 m. broad, was crossed, which contained two islets and a number of rocks forming a barrier from south-west to north-east. Two kilometres farther along another immense barrier of rocks and numberless islets obstructed the river from south-west to north-east, so that for a little time we could not see which way the stream flowed out of it at all. Sharply-pointed rocks, ugly and fearsome-looking, stood up everywhere. When eventually we did perceive a channel, down which we went, we found terrifying rapids followed by fearful eddies and a most alarming whirlpool.

I could not measure the exact width of the basin there, as there was a regular maze of islands and I could not well see from the canoe where the banks exactly were.

A great island, 2,000 m. long--Normand Island--presently divided the river into two great channels, the north-easterly one of which we followed, finding more fearsome rapids and strong eddies, which knocked the canoe and us about in a dangerous manner.

I was greatly concerned in going down all those rapids, as the canoe was now in a pitiable condition. We had no way of repairing her, and I was afraid that, with the strain of the terrific current, if we had banged too hard against a rock, she might have split in two. I was not so anxious for myself as I was for my men, who would certainly have been drowned, as four of them could not swim. Also, after all the trouble I had taken to make valuable botanical collections and a unique collection of photographs, I was most anxious to bring them all back safely. I was particularly anxious to bring back to Europe the wonderful fossils I had collected on the Plateau of Matto Grosso, which I had long ago packed in one of the cases that were fortunately among the things saved from the previous disasters. My men had invariably grumbled at having to carry that particular heavy box, when we had to unload the canoe and take the baggage on our heads or shoulders at the many rapids we had encountered.

They had never once missed an occasion to remonstrate and swear at the absurdity of having to sweat to carry "those blessed stones," or "the devil's own stones," as they called them.

We had gone but a few thousand metres when we once more came to another great barrier, with two islands, stretching, like most of the others, from south-west to north-east. The only point at which we could take the canoe down was in the rapid in the very centre of the stream--a nasty-looking place, I can a.s.sure you--followed by a whirlpool of such proportions as would have frightened most humans. I must say for my men that they showed a great deal of courage that day. Whether it was because they did not quite realize the danger, or whether it was because they had got accustomed to it by then, I do not know; but the fact remains that when I ordered them to go down that terrifying place they obeyed without saying a word.

We had to exercise the greatest care, having to jump out on small rocks which stuck up in the middle of the rapid in order to arrest the almost uncontrollable speed of the canoe. Had they missed their footing while jumping on those rocks and holding the ropes attached to the canoe, the men would certainly have lost their lives, as it was out of the question to save anybody in those diabolical waters. Therefore, when you considered the terrific speed at which the canoe was travelling, and that the men must have known that a mistake in judging the distance would have meant utter destruction, you could not but admire them for their really amazing self-confidence. On many occasions, indeed, I had to do the same thing myself, but I must say I never liked it much; although I was in a better position than they were, as I am a good swimmer--not that a swimmer would have much chance in those waters.

A number of islets were seen below the rapids and whirlpool. From that point we discerned on the right bank an elongated hill, 100 ft. high.

Slightly beyond, preceded by a great ma.s.s of rock, was another island 200 m. long, dividing the stream in two. Two other islands, one 700 m.

long--Leda Island--the other one Medea Island, of greater length but much narrower, were disclosed behind it.

Then came another great barrier of rocks extending from south-west to north-east, and more rapids to be negotiated. A series of elongated islets and sand-banks occurred in the basin which followed, 1,300 m.

wide. Beautiful sand-beaches had formed on either side of that lovely bay. The river then narrowed again to a width of 500 m., and we saw a long flat island of sand, 200 m. long and 50 m. wide, enclosed by rocks in the centre of the stream.

We continued our journey, after the usual halt for taking astronomical observations, and had before us a small hill 100 ft. high at bearings magnetic 300.

We came to a series of most dangerous rapids with terrific whirlpools, especially after the first and second rapid. Another great barrier of rocks with huge boulders spread across the stream from south-west to north-east. An isolated hill was to be seen on the left bank where this barrier was found. A strange coffin-shaped boulder of immense size was then reached on the right side of the stream, just after we had pa.s.sed a delightful sand-spit 100 m. long enclosed within a stockade of pillar-like rocks.

From this point we had 4,000 m. of clear navigation to 280 b.m. It seemed heavenly to us to be in smooth waters again, and my men flattered themselves that we had now come to the end of the rapids altogether. But we soon arrived at innumerable rocks in a confused ma.s.s right across the stream, between which the river flowed with great force in a contracted neck. We pa.s.sed between two islands, each 200 m. long, at the end of which was a rapid. An island 1,000 m. long was there formed--Bomfin Island. Dangerous rapids occurred half-way down its length on the right; then followed a ma.s.s of square columnar pillars of rock not unlike basalt. That was all very beautiful to look at, but we had endless trouble in extricating our canoe from among the numberless impedimenta which obstructed navigation.

[Ill.u.s.tration: At the August Falls.]

Another most beautiful island, 520 m. long--Jessica Island--was pa.s.sed just before getting to really formidable rapids, down which we had the greatest difficulty in letting the canoe, even by the judicious use of ropes. The navigable channel of the river--if navigable it could be called--swerved from north-west to due north. In a basin of immense size were a number of islands from 300 to 200 m. in length, and enormous boulders with cataracts of great height between. The roar made by the water falling over was so great that it resembled thunder. The difference of height between the top and the bottom of the rapid was not less than 10 ft. The water in the channel we followed went over a great slope of lava above which numerous boulders had acc.u.mulated.

My men became perplexed when they saw the formidable rush of water, but before we had time to do anything we were swept away at such a speed that for one moment I really believed we were lost. My men laughed hysterically, and in that laugh I joined when we came out at the other end still alive. We had shaved several rocks so closely that great patches of the stopping in the side of the canoe had been torn off altogether, and we were filling fast with water.