CHAPTER X 



TO THE AMAZON AND HOME; ZOOLOGICAL AND 

 GEOGRAPHICAL RESULTS OF THE EXPEDITION 



Our adventures and our troubles were alike over. We 

 now experienced the incalculable contrast between descend- 

 ing a known and travelled river, and one that is utterly 

 unknown. After four days we hired a rubber-man to go 

 with us as guide. He knew exactly what channels were 

 passable when we came to the rapids, when the canoes 

 had to unload, and where the carry-trails were. It was all 

 child's play compared to what we had gone through. We 

 made long days' journeys, for at night we stopped at 

 some palm-thatched house, inhabited or abandoned, and 

 therefore the men were spared the labor of making camp; 

 and we bought ample food for them, so there was no fur- 

 ther need of fishing and chopping down palms for the 

 palm-tops. The heat of the sun was blazing; but it looked 

 as if we had come back into the rainy season, for there 

 were many heavy rains, usually in the afternoon, but some- 

 times in the morning or at night. The mosquitoes were 

 sometimes rather troublesome at night. In the daytime 

 the piums swarmed, and often bothered us even when we 

 were in midstream. 



For four days there were no rapids we could not run 

 without unloading. Then, on the 19th, we got a canoe 

 from Senhor Barboso. He was a most kind and hospi- 



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