FIRST SIGHT OF AM:^HA 225 



plainly visible, but this mountain is not nearly so imposing 

 in appearance as Arawa. 



It was nearly four o'clock when we finished our meal, 

 and although the spot where we were would have made 

 a good camping-place, I determined to paddle up stream 

 until dark. I was eager to get a first glimpse of our 

 destination, so long looked forward to, so difficult to reach. 

 We took our places in the boats and I hurried the men 

 on, setting the example by paddling vigorously myself. 

 Almost suddenly we shot round the curve well out into 

 the stream, and this gave us a clear view ahead for a 

 considerable distance. Maite stood up in the stern and, 

 pointing in front of him, said in a deep solemn tone, 

 ' Ameha.' Veiled in bluish haze the outline of the object 

 of our journey could be dimly discerned in the distance. 

 We might have taken it for some fantastic cloud had we 

 not been told that it was a mountain. We stopped for 

 the night at an abandoned camp of the Indians who 

 had preceded us. It was by far the most elaborate of 

 the many affairs of the kind we had seen on our journey,, 

 so that it would appear that the Indians had sojourned 

 longer here than anywhere else. All the other huts we 

 had passed on our way were flimsy constructions rapidly 

 put together, but the three at this place had evidently 

 been built with more care. An additional evidence of 

 the Indians' stay at this place having been a prolonged 

 one, was the large quantity of bones and feathers 

 scattered around the huts. Jacobson, who wanted to 

 change his plates, converted the smallest of the huts into 

 a dark-room by tacking blankets on to the uprights. 

 He afterwards took several flashlight photographs of the 

 men sitting round the camp-fire roasting some large 

 Aymaras caught by Maite. A curious result of Jacobson'e 



Q 



