Across Unknown South America Part 41

A thickly-wooded hill range, 150 ft. high and extending from W.S.W. to E.N.E., stood to the north of us. Its slopes, eroded by the water, had caused a landslip, leaving bare vertical red rock for half the height of the hill-range and two much eroded spurs of bright yellow and white earth extending into the stream.

The river at that point turned from north to east. Open country was again on our right after leaving the hill range, and lowlands liable to inundation. Soon afterwards, however, higher land appeared with banks 35 ft. high.

Swarms of small white b.u.t.terflies played upon the banks on the edge of the water.

Sand and gravel mounds were numerous in the centre of the channel, with occasional basins of shallow water with _corrideiras_ upon them. For instance, in one of those places for 150 m. the river was only from 1 to 3 ft. deep, and we had to drag the long heavy canoe, which drew 2 ft. of water, along the undulating gravel bed. In fact, we spent a good deal of our time every day in the water, pus.h.i.+ng or pulling along the canoe over innumerable obstacles, her great length making it difficult to navigate her properly through the many shallow and tortuous pa.s.sages.

In a circular basin, 120 m. in diameter, beyond that point we encountered strong eddies near the left bank. On the north side big rocks emerged from the water and a _corrideira_ was formed.

An island 50 m. long and two other islets were separated from the mainland by two channels, one 20 m. wide and only 3 in. deep--the other 60 m. wide and 3 ft. deep. The right bank was there 45 ft. high.

Fifteen hundred metres farther down we entered another basin 200 m. in diameter, with an island 80 m. long and eight dry beaches of gravel.

My men were greatly excited in trying to capture a _capivara_ they had wounded. We actually got the animal on board, but my men were so timid in going near it that it jumped overboard again and made its escape.

The right bank, which had been high, was now reduced to only 4 ft. above the water; whereas the left bank rose to a height of 46 ft. A rivulet 3 m. wide coming from the west had cut its way through the latter bank.

The main river was getting more and more magnificent at every turn. I should have enjoyed the journey very much had it not been for the constant attention I had to pay to my men, who left their paddles and steering gear at every moment in order to fire recklessly at birds or _ariranhas_ or _capivaras_, much to the danger of everybody on board.

They would blaze away with their repeating rifles--and bullet cartridges, of course--at parrots and even _colibri_ birds 100 or 200 metres off.

They said the rifles were bad because they could never hit anything! I had ceased scolding them. They made me positively ill with pity, I was only praying for our supply of cartridges to come to an end soon, so that if we were to die at all it might not be through being pierced by one of our own bullets.

The river had been flowing, with slight deviations, northwards.

We came to an enchanting island 70 m. wide, with thick vegetation upon it and fine rocks.

The river in that portion flowed practically north in great stretches of 6,000 and 4,000 m. Another large and beautiful island, 250 m. long and 70 wide--Ghislaine Island--was pa.s.sed, and we admired the gorgeous vegetation upon it.

Below the island the river was 100 m. wide and very shallow--not more than from 1 to 4 ft. in depth. We halted at sunset, having gone that day 92 kil. 300 m.

During the night of July 11th my men suffered a great deal from cold, the thermometer being as low as 45 Fahrenheit. In the morning there was a thick fog over the river--so thick that we had to delay our departure until eight o'clock, as we could not see more than two or three metres ahead.

Two kilometres beyond we came to a rivulet, 2 m. wide, on the left bank, and soon after to a small _corrideira_ with a navigable channel in the centre. Three hundred metres farther down we pa.s.sed another tributary on the right bank. There was open country with spa.r.s.e stunted trees on the left of us, thick forest with plenty of rubber trees on the right. I noticed several good specimens of the _pao dolce_--a tree with a curious cl.u.s.ter of yellow flowers not unlike the flower of wistaria upside down.

Not only was the _pao dolce_ pretty to look at, but a most refres.h.i.+ng beverage could be made from a decoction of its leaves.

The course of the river was winding, with basins and rapids of no great importance. Another tributary 2 m. wide was reached on the left bank, and soon after another tiny streamlet entered the Arinos from the same side.

I had a narrow escape. One of the men, who was sitting behind me in the canoe, saw an _ariranha_ (_Lutra Brasiliensis_) put its head out of the water only ten metres in front of the canoe. In his great hurry to kill the beautiful animal he seized his rifle and emptied the eight shots out of his magazine, firing the first three shots close to my head on the left side, the other five just as close on the other side. The muzzle of his rifle was so near my ear that the noise deafened me for several minutes and my hair was almost singed off. The _ariranha_, needless to say, escaped unhurt, and luckily so did I.

We went over a long strip of shallow water from 1 to 3 ft. deep. We now had open country on the right bank, with a small streamlet finding its way into the Arinos on that side. The river was flowing again in long straight stretches--3,000 m., 2,000 m., 2,500 m. in length. In the portions where the banks were thickly wooded innumerable rubber trees were to be seen.

In the centre of a basin 150 m. wide we found another island, 100 m. long and 50 m. wide, absolutely smothered in vegetation and with a handsome gravel spit at its southern end. Two kilometres farther another basin, 300 m. broad, appeared. An amazing quant.i.ty of rubber trees was to be seen round that basin. Near the water we also found fine specimens of the _mate_ (_Ilex Paraguayensis_ St. Hil.), with its wax-like leaves, much used in certain parts of South America for making a kind of tea.

For close upon 13 kils. the river flowed--with slight deviations--almost always due north, and with its limpid waters was of extraordinary beauty.

The country was open on the right side of us. We saw that day two white _urubu_ (_Cathartes_). The Brazilians have a curious superst.i.tion about them. They say that if you write with a quill taken from the wing of one of these birds any business which you may be transacting will go well; in fact, anything you may wish to do and which you set down on paper with one of these quills and ink is sure to turn out successfully.

That day I again suffered much, while taking astronomical observations, from the millions of bees and other insects which settled in swarms upon my hands and face and stung me all over. We were then in lat. 12 26'5 S., long. 56 37' W. The temperature in the sun was not unbearable--merely 85 Fahr.

In the afternoon, after we had enjoyed an excellent lunch of fish, tinned provisions, and rice--my men also enjoying their _feijao_ (boiled beans)--we continued our journey. The river for 9,000 m. displayed first clean _campos_ and _chapada_ on the left bank and dense forest on the right, then _campos_ on the right bank and a belt of forest along the river on the left.

The _campos_ were particularly neat in that region--merely a few _burity_ and _tuc.u.m_ palms flouris.h.i.+ng on the edge of the water. In other localities a thick growth of beautiful bamboos interspersed with gigantic palms lined the banks.

Where the river turned due east we came to fairly strong rapids. The water was shallow with mounds of gravel, and we b.u.mped about a great deal. Eventually we all had to get into the water and push the canoe along for greater comfort.

The river next formed a huge basin, 900 m. long and 200 m. wide. A small tributary flowed into the Arinos in the crescent-shaped bank on the right. That bank had a height of 80 ft. On its summit quant.i.ties of _Siphonia elastica_ were to be admired. Farther down it was on the left side that the river had high banks, some 60 ft. high.

We went over a charming little _corrideira_. Strong eddies were encountered on emerging from the rapids. Where the right bank became lower--only 40 ft.--_chapada_ replaced the forest. The left bank was but 1 ft. above the level of the river, and the low country beyond (south) was naturally liable to inundation. For 4,000 m. the left bank was never higher than 4 ft. The right bank also suddenly became very low in that region.

Where the river turned from 290 b.m. to 320 b.m., there was a basin 700 m. broad with low banks. An island--Lydia Island--200 m. in circ.u.mference, rose within this basin on the north side and was luxuriantly wooded.

We found that day beautiful beaches of gravel, mostly on the right side.

Then strong rapids and _corrideiras_; below these more clean-looking gravel beaches--this time on the left--were visible, and an extensive island of gravel close to the right bank.

For 8,000 m. the gorgeous stream flowed almost in a direct line northward, with dense forest and a wealthy growth of rubber trees on both sides. Wonderful _figueira_ trees with their spotless white branches embellished the landscape.

On the left a tributary of some size entered the Arinos from the south-east in two arms with an island between; the largest arm was 40 m.

wide, the smaller 10 m. Then another stream entered the Arinos on the right side.

We were again confronted by a large basin enclosed on the north by a crescent-shaped wall 100 ft. high, at the foot of which at the level of the river was a quant.i.ty of debris of yellow rock. The river at that spot turned sharply from 20 b.m. (N.N.E.) to 290 b.m.--that is to say, almost north-west. The width of the Arinos at this point was from 80 to 100 m.

Towards sunset we came to a beautiful island 200 m. long. We cleared a sufficiently large s.p.a.ce in the dense and gorgeous vegetation to make our camp for the night.

CHAPTER V

Great Islands--The Trincho Fish--A Fisherman's Paradise--Alastor Island--Plentiful Rubber--The Civilized Man's Idea of the Tropical Forest--The War-Cries of the Indians--Swarms of Bees and b.u.t.terflies

WE had another cool night on July 12th--minimum temperature 47 F. It was very damp, and in the morning we had, as on the previous day, a thick mist which prevented our starting until it cleared up, at 7.40 a.m. The mist rose in columns and square blocks over the warmish water of the river. The right bank of the Arinos was 40 ft. high.

We had gone some 1,500 m. from our camp when we came to a magnificent island, 400 m. long and 200 m. wide--Griselda Island--which divided the stream into two channels.

All the islands we had seen of late showed on the up-stream side a more or less extensive spit of beautifully coloured gravel and glittering crystals. The latter shone in the sun with such iridescent luminosity that it gave those islands a fairy-like appearance.

We encountered troublesome eddies which swung the canoe about, and in one case actually spun her completely round in a most alarming manner, tearing out of Alcides' hands the steering gear, which we had some trouble in recovering.

There were many handsome large-leafed _pacova_, somewhat resembling banana palms; also quant.i.ties of _Siphonia elastica_, although these were not quite so plentiful as farther south nor the trees so high. A tiny brook of delicious water descended into the Arinos from the left bank.

Ten thousand five hundred metres farther down from Griselda Island we came to another island, 300 m. long and 50 m. broad--Negrino Island--with the usual spit of gravel and beautiful crystals on the south side. This island was 10 ft. high above the water, with some trees on it, but not such luxuriant vegetation as on most of the other islands we had seen.

A stream 5 m. wide at the mouth, coming from the N.N.W., entered the Arinos on the right side. The main river had a direction of 305 b.m.--that is to say, virtually north-west. Great volcanic slabs of rock and sand-banks were now reached.

The sun was not extraordinarily hot--90 F. at noon. The country on either side was open--chiefly _chapada_. Beautiful gravel beaches were now seen, extending half-way across the river, particularly from the left side.

Another tributary 5 m. wide coming from the N.N.E. was pa.s.sed on our right, and beyond this a thick forest with rubber trees was visible, while _chapada_ continued on the left.

Round a big basin 200 m. in diameter, containing shallow water from 1 to 6 ft. deep, stood a ma.s.s of gigantic trees with verdant healthy foliage, and innumerable abnormally tall _burity_ palms, over 100 ft. high, and _tuc.u.m_ (_Astrocaryum tuc.u.ma_)--also of immense size.