302 THROUGH THE BRAZILIAN WILDERNESS 



worked the canoes half-way down the canyon. Again and 

 again it was touch and go whether they could get by a 

 given point. At one spot the channel of the furious tor- 

 rent was only fifteen yards across. One canoe was lost, 

 so that of the seven with which we had started only two 

 were left. Cherrie labored with the other men at times, 

 and also stood as guard over them, for, while actually work- 

 ing, of course no one could carry a rifle. Kermit's experi- 

 ence in bridge building was invaluable in enabling him to 

 do the rope work by which alone it was possible to get the 

 canoes down the canyon. He and Lyra had now been in 

 the water for days. Their clothes were never dry. Their 

 shoes were rotten. The bruises on their feet and legs had 

 become sores. On their bodies some of the insect bites had 

 become festering v/ounds, as indeed was the case with all 

 of us. Poisonous ants, biting flies, ticks, wasps, bees were 

 a perpetual torment. However, no one had yet been bit- 

 ten by a venomous serpent, a scorpion, or a centiped, 

 although we had killed all of the three within camp 

 ^limits. 



Under such conditions whatever is evil in men's natures 

 comes to the front. On this day a strange and terrible 

 tragedy occurred. One of the camaradas, a man of pure 

 European blood, was the man named Julio, of whom I 

 have already spoken. He was a very powerful fellow and 

 had been importunately eager to come on the expedition; 

 and he had the reputation of being a good worker. But, 

 like so many men of higher standing, he had had no idea 

 of what such an expedition really meant, and under the 

 strain of toil, hardship, and danger his nature showed its 

 true depths of selfishness, cowardice, and ferocity. He 



