February, 1918 C. U. C. P. ALUMNI JOURNAL 25 



beautiful and interesting one, among mighty cliffs and other scenery of ma- 

 jestic character. Above the falls we take a smaller steamer and proceed to Girar- 

 dot. which is at the head of steamer navigation, except for a very small boat that 

 runs once or twice a week, to Pacificacion, a few miles farther up the river. This 

 part of the journey is against a current that is exceedingly strong and swift and 

 over a rocky channel, hemmed in on both sides by high and rocky banks, or 

 even mountain bases. 



When the river becomes too swift and rocky for steamer navigation, we 

 betake ourselves to canoes or rafts. There are comparaitvely smooth places, ex- 

 tending usually for but short distances, where the craft floats gently down the 

 stream or is easily propelled when upon its upward journey. Oars are rarely 

 used. In their stead, the Indians employ huge paddles, their blades three feet 

 in length and having an average width of nine or ten inches. When thrust deeply 

 into the water, their use calls for a tremendous outlay of physical strength. When 

 the craft approaches an out jutting promontory of rock, there is frequently a 

 dangerous whirlpool just above it, where the water is profoundly deep and at 

 the center of which a terrific downward suction is developed. Even a good sized 

 steamer is not wholly safe in such a place and should our canoe be caught within 

 its narrowing whirl, we are very likely to be overturned or our canoe stood upon 

 its end and sucked beneath the surface. Even if we pass the whirlpool in safety, 

 we must not too closely approach the turbulent current that roars around the 

 point. To avoid these dangers, our boatmen must work their paddles with 

 desperate strength and quickness, each pull almost lifting the canoe out of the 

 water. At times, one such curve will succeed another so closely that there is no 

 resting in between. The instant that the boat has escaped the point upon one 

 side of the river, an extreme effort must be made to throw it across so as to escape 

 a similar danger upon the other. At times, when the river is narrow, we shoot 

 downward at express train speed. Ascending the river, such places are passed 

 only at the expense of painful and exhausting labor. Frequently the paddles can- 

 not be used at all, long and strong poles being substituted, or the boat being towed 

 by lines carried on foot along the shore or in the shallow water near it. There 

 are places where it must be taken from the water and carried or dragged over- 

 land around the rapids. As a general rule, it takes as many days to ascend as it 

 does hours to descend a given portion of the stream. 



The canoes employed are almost without exception dugouts, made by hol- 

 lowing out the trunk of a huge tree. These are ponderous and unwieldly, but 

 very strong to resist blows against the rocks in the river bed. Even so, it is not a 

 very unusual occurrence for them to be cracked or to be broken sheer in two by 

 the force with which they strike. Rafts, or "balsas" as they are termed, are 

 made of a peculiar wood that is almost as light as cork. It is produced by two 

 species of Ochroma, related to our hollyhock, one being known as black, the 

 other as white balsa-wood. Their trunks are mostly small and they are fastened 



