PARA 275 



We covered the grave with stones and hurried away from 

 this ominous scene of death, which every one of us looked 

 upon as a foreboding of our doom. On the up trip hours 

 had been spent hauHng the boats over the shallows ; now we 

 were borne rapidly through the channels by the swiftness 

 of the current. As we neared our old camping-place, the 

 remains of the ranchos we had built on the up journey 

 came in sight, and this appeared to inspire the men with 

 hope, for they shouted in chorus ' Para ! Para ! ' It was 

 ' The Sea ! ' ' The Sea ! ' of the Ten Thousand. 



As soon as we landed the men rummaged about our 

 old encampment and succeeded in finding a large yam 

 we had left behind because it had the spot. It had kept 

 remarkably well, having thrown out a few roots only. A 

 fire was immediately lighted and the yam, half -boiled, was 

 greedily devoured. The men recalled every detail of the 

 tapir hunt on the up journey when at this spot they had 

 feasted sumptuously, and they compared our starving con- 

 dition with that time of plenty. We found a couple of 

 empty tins at this place. In one of them I put a letter 

 addressed to Pedro Hospedales, and having tied it to the 

 end of a long pole, planted the pole in an open place 

 where the men could not fail to see it when they would 

 reach Para. In my letter I tried to encourage them to 

 hold out until help would reach them from La Prision. 



The boat having been unloaded and securely moored 

 to a tree, we walked to the hut in the middle of the island, 

 the men carrying as many things as they could. I went 

 on in front with the rifle, on the chance of killing some 

 game. Jacobson and the taxidermist came next, and the 

 men afterwards. I reached the hut just in time to avoid 

 getting wet by a heavy shower which lasted for over an 

 hour. The men dropped in one after another, soaked to 



T 2 



