BEJUCALES ON THE MEREVARI 257 



while the mass of logs floated away to be broken to pieces 

 at the first rapids. The men, thoroughly convinced that 

 their only chance of reaching Para was by walking, con- 

 tinued cutting their way through the forest, while we 

 drifted with the current as we had been doing since we 

 lost the large boat. Several shots were overheard in the 

 forest, and when we camped for the night the men 

 brought in three curassows and two penelopes. 



May 3. — This morning we finished the little bit of 

 sugar we had. There is still some coffee and tea left, a 

 few pounds of beans and rice, and six or seven ounces of 

 salt. In order to economise this very necessary article 

 Pancho puts only a pinch or two in the soup made from 

 the game we obtain. The food is so unpalatable that it 

 is with difficulty I manage to swallow a few mouthfuls, 

 Jacobson and Villegente, on the contrary, continue to 

 enjoy excellent appetites. We remained in camp a long 

 while after the men had started to walk through the bush, 

 as we knew that we would easily catch them up. It 

 must have been eleven o'clock when we paddled out into 

 the middle of the stream, so as to get the full benefit of 

 the current. Here the Merevari flows through densely 

 wooded banks, rising to hillocks some distance inland. 

 Shot a penelope with the Winchester : a lucky shot, con- 

 sidering the distance at which I fired. As we drifted 

 along close to the shore I noticed many deep gullies 

 partially filled with water. The sides of these gullies 

 were clothed with a tangled undergrowth consisting 

 mostly of creepers running along the ground and cover- 

 ing the small trees. These are the bejucales so difficult 

 to get through. We came across the men struggling 

 through one of these hejucales, and as there was an open 

 stretch of shingle close by, we landed and waited for 



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