THE LONG TRAIL 



you come in from a long day's tramping, 

 you feel most disinclined to concentrate on 

 writing a careful and interesting account 

 of the day's activities. Father was invari- 

 ably good-humored about it, saying that 

 he was paying for his fun. In Brazil 

 when the mosquitoes and sand-flies were 

 intolerable, he used to be forced to write 

 swathed in a mosquito veil and with long 

 gauntlets to protect hands and wrists. 



During the descent of the River of 

 Doubt in Brazil there were many black 

 moments. It was impossible to hazard a 

 guess within a month or more as to when 

 we would get through to the Amazon. 

 We had dugout canoes, and when we came 

 to serious rapids or waterfalls we were 

 forced to cut a trail around to the quiet 

 water below. Then we must make a 

 corduroy road with the trunks of trees 

 over which to haul the dugouts. All this 

 70 



