248 A NATURALIST IN THE GUIANAS 



from danger did the part where we were then appear, 

 that Jacobson and myself remained in the boat, when the 

 men, having as usual got on to the rocks, proceeded to 

 slacken the stern-rope while the bow was being graduall^y 

 drawn down stream. How it happened it is now diffi- 

 cult, if not impossible, to say. Whether the men under- 

 estimated the force of the current, or whether the front 

 man at the stern-rope slipped and dragged the other after 

 him, they themselves have been unable to explain. I 

 suddenly felt that the boat was veering round rapidly, 

 while ' the Pirate,' who had fallen forward, was flounder- 

 ing in the water. The other man, unable to hold on 

 alone, had let the rope go. It was over in a few seconds. 

 With incredible speed we were whirled along into the big 

 channel, the most dangerous part of Arichi, and I knew 

 that all was lost. I felt the heavy crash as the boat was 

 jammed against the double rock which divides the 

 channel, and I was hurled out with violence, falling into 

 the water beyond the rocks. When I rose to the sm-face 

 I was some distance from the wrecked boat. The men 

 from the smaller boat who were on shore were making 

 frantic efforts to throw me a rope, but it always fell short 

 and was carried away by the force of the current. I 

 reached shore lower down. My first thoughts were about 

 Jacobson. I knew that he could not swim a stroke, and 

 that if he had fallen into deep water nothing short of a 

 miracle would save him. But there he was, clinging on 

 to the rock in front of which the boat was wedged, and 

 thus protected from the full force of the current. The 

 men after several trials succeeded in getting ropes across 

 the channel and rescued him from his perilous position. 



Then it was that I realised the magnitude of the 

 disaster which had befallen me. It was in the large boat 



