542 A NATURALIST IN THE GUIANAS 



timber they had hit upon. This was a really regrettable 

 incident, as we were badly in need of an extra boat, 

 our large dug-out being in such a leaky condition when 

 heavily loaded, that one of the men had to be kept 

 continuously occupied baling out the water which forced 

 its way in through the numerous crevices in the sides and 

 bottom of our worn-out craft. I would have liked to have 

 built another boat, did I not feel that it would be unsafe 

 to spend any more time at Ameha. We had but few pro- 

 visions remaining. The rainy season had set in almost 

 suddenly and the river was rising daily. The men, afraid 

 that we might be cut off at the falls of Para, had become 

 openly mutinous. We did the best we could with the old 

 boat, stuffing bits of cloth into the cracks and holes, and at 

 nine o'clock on the morning of the 24th (April), we pushed 

 off from the shore into mid-stream, with the massive bulk of 

 Ameha frowning upon us. We had tried to ascend it and 

 had failed. The day was a fine one, so that we were able 

 to distinguish every detail of the summit stretching to the 

 south, serene and unconquered, in the bright sunshine of 

 that April morning, and this added to the bitterness I felt 

 at having failed in my attempts to scale it. 



