THE DESCENT OF THE RIO GY-PARANA 263 



spot of short hair no larger than a silver half-dollar in the 

 centre; the hair on the back of the head remains long. 



The Mundrucus have the curious custom of preserving 

 the heads of the Parintintins slain in battle; one of these I 

 subsequently saw, prepared somewhat in the same manner 

 as those formerly so highly prized by the head-hunters of 

 Ecuador. Apparently the head had been smoked, and the 

 eyes had been replaced with balls of pitch; it was a weird 

 trophy, suggestive of wild orgies and cannibalistic rites 

 performed in the depths of the jungle by the light of flick- 

 ering pitch-torches, and to the music of wailing reeds and 

 deep-voiced tom-toms. 



Captain Amilcar reached Calama about a week after our 

 arrival. He had suffered a second accident, in which his 

 canoe, all his personal effects, the instruments, and practi- 

 cally all of his scientific data had been lost. These inci- 

 dents emphasize the uncertainty of travel and exploration 

 on the great South American waterways, and the dangers 

 to which every one is constantly subjected who ventures 

 beyond the beaten paths of steamships and tourists' 

 routes. 



On April 7 the Fortaleza, a good-sized steamer plying be- 

 tween Manaos and Santo Antonio, called at Calama on her 

 down-stream journey, and we embarked for the last stage 

 of our journey. We made excellent time, stopping only at 

 long intervals for the purpose of taking aboard Brazil nuts. 

 On the 9th of April we entered the Amazon, and the next 

 morning found us steaming up the Rio Negro, with Manaos 

 visible in the distance. It had been fifty-two days since 

 the division of the expedition at the River of Doubt. 



Upon reaching Manaos we found that as yet no word 

 had been received from Colonel Roosevelt and his party, 

 who were supposedly still on the Rio da Duvida. A steamer, 

 provided with comforts which would indeed be welcome to 

 the explorers after their long, arduous voyage in canoes, 

 had been sent up the river; with each passing day the ex- 

 citement grew more intense in Manaos, and many conjee- 



