128 M. F. Castelnau’s Report of the 
evening he told us that he was a runaway, in consequence of his 
having murdered a family of ten persons in order to get possession 
of an axe. Such were the men at whose mercy we were about to 
find ourselves placed. 
We had eaten nothing during the day, and hunger, which had al- 
ready extremely weakened us, now affected us with a constant giddi- 
ness. We still had a mouldy ham, filled with maggots, and a coun- 
cil being held in order to decide whether it should be sacrificed, al- 
though prudence urged our preserving it for some worse extremity, 
gluttony prevailed, and we thought it delicious. 
Two men deserted on the night of the 20th. So reduced were 
we in strength that it required all our efforts to float the canoes that 
had been left high and dry by the subsiding flood. We this day 
passed the falls of Sirialo, forming four successive descents of the 
water from a great height. We proceeded along the banks, assist- 
ing the old priest with much difficulty over the rocks, which were 
often perpendicular, while the men passed the canoes over the falls. 
This was an infinitely laborious operation; for the crews were now 
reduced for the whole tour, to two of the men who had been hired, 
and four Indians, together with my faithful servant Florentino. 
Having passed the falls, we re-entered the canoes, two of which 
were almost immediately swamped in a rapid, by which we lost 
nearly all that remained of our chocolate, our last resource against 
the horrors of hunger. 
We slept at the mouth of the little river Sangobatea, whence two 
of our men went to an Indian hut, situate about a league off in the 
interior, and returned with some roots of manioo. One may readily 
imagine our delight at getting these. Next day I lost one of my 
canoes in a rapid, and was happy in being able to purchase from the 
Indians, for an axe, a small raft in which to stow what articles we 
had contrived to save. We then passed many rapids, and put up 
for the night at an Indian hut, the owner of which possessed a beauti- 
ful canoe. This I vainly tried to purchase. ‘I am happy,’ said 
he, “and there is nothing on earth I need wish for: I have a hut, 
a canoe, bow and arrows, three wives, and two dogs, and what more 
would you have me have ?” 
Vegetation now became more and more beautiful ; ferns as tall 
as trees, together with thousands of palm trees, imparted to the 
scene a decidedly tropical character, and this was not belied by the 
presence of numerous Indians. Here Father Bousquet baptized an 
infant, whose father insisted on having an axe given to him. It is 
not likely that Maria Francisca, such was the child's baptismal name, 
will ever know in this world that the waters of baptism have re- 
generated her forehead. 
In the course of the night I had a sharp attack of fever, which I 
attributed not only to our horribly bad food, but, alas, to the water 
finding its way into our canoe, and the wetness of my clothes. The 
