ON A RAFT TO GUAYAQUIL 307 



The oars used in navigating these rafts are 

 merely bamboos, about 20 feet long, half their 

 thickness being cut away for about a yard at the 

 outer end, so as to form a sort of scoop. T\vo oars 

 were fixed in the prow, and a third oar in the stern, 

 the latter being worked by the old black who had 

 sold me the raft. The river had risen almost to its 

 winter level, and we swept along rapidly. At 

 2 P.M. we were already eight leagues away from 

 Aguacatal, near a site called Catarama, below which 

 the river is narrowed in some places to 30 yards, 

 and the navigable channel is further straitened by 

 the trees (chiefly species of Inga) which hang far 

 over the water. Add to this that the river ran like 

 a sluice, and that the turns were frequent and 

 abrupt, and it will be seen how difficult it was to 

 maintain our clumsy craft always in the mid-stream. 

 Although the men tugged hard at their oars, they 

 could not save us from being frequently brushed 

 by the trees ; and at length, at a sharp turn, the 

 raft went dead on, and through a mass of branches 

 and twiners that hung over to the middle of the 

 river. The effect was tremendous : the heavy 

 cases were hoisted up and clashed against each 

 other, the roof of our cabin smashed in, and the 

 old pilot was for some moments so completely 

 involved in the branches and the wreck of the roof, 

 that I expected nothing but that he had been 

 carried away; he held on, however, and at last 

 emerged, panting and perspiring, but with no 

 further injury than a smart Hogging from the twigs, 

 which indeed none of us entirely escaped. There 

 have been instances on this river ol a man being 

 hooked up bodily by the formidable 



