248 IN THE WILDS OF SOUTH AMERICA 



gers, and woodpeckers, completely investing the trees in 

 their all-absorbing quest of a livelihood. Twigs snapped, 

 seeds dropped, the woods seemed full of fluttering wings 

 and chirping voices; but in a few moments the noise grew 

 faint and stopped; the tireless army had gone its way, and 

 the vanguard of trogons suddenly appeared, hovered in 

 mid-air to snap off an enticing fruit, and then hurried away. 

 Occasionally we were fortunate enough to shoot a curas- 

 sow, a large turkey-like bird, and then our Brazilian chef 

 prepared the national dish called canja; it consists of a 

 fowl and rice boiled together and is delicious. 



On account of its large size, work on the dugout pro- 

 gressed slowly; a section of the trunk, some thirty feet 

 long, had been cut off where the tree had fallen, and this 

 was being hollowed out with adzes, while short-handled 

 axes were used in dressing down the exterior. After twelve 

 days of continuous hewing the dugout began to assume the 

 appearance of a seaworthy craft, and we figured that she 

 would be ready to launch at the end of another two weeks; 

 but the next day a batelao arrived. Her captain had been 

 fighting his way up the Gy-Parana over three months in 

 his efforts to reach Barao de Melgaco, having been sent 

 from the Madeira by order of Colonel Rondon. 



We loaded our meagre outfit into the batelao, which was 

 a good-sized craft built of boards nailed over heavy wooden 

 ribs, and with a squared tree-trunk for a keel; an arched 

 palm-leaf roof covered a section in the centre, under which 

 we sat to avoid the rain or sun. This style of boat is in 

 general use on the larger tropical rivers and corresponds 

 with the falca of the Orinoco and the champan of the Mag- 

 dalena. A crew of eighteen men was mustered, all of whom 

 were more than willing to leave their pestilential environs, 

 and we were soon shooting down-stream with the rapid 

 current. Captain Amilcar had gone on ahead with the 

 small canoes in order to survey the river. They carried 

 a sighting-rod with red disks and a telemeter for measur- 

 ing distances; a compass gave them the direction. 



