262 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



Indian could take in the slack, and, sheering off, the boat struck the fall instead of 

 the rocks and instantly filled, floating away our five arrobas of harina (yuca 

 flour, or tapioca,) our paddles, plantains, yucas, rice. We also lost our last ma- 

 chete, and my rubber clothing. After much risk and labor the boat was tied up 

 and bailed out. When sure of my boat, I seated myself upon a rock to rest and 

 study our situation." 



"Here we were, three men more than 300 miles from any settlement, sur- 

 rounded by a dense forest, without paddles, and destitute of any wood-cutting 

 instrument, our mainstay of food with the paddles in the center of a powerful 

 whirlpool. Although the Mamore has been the only highway of travel and com- 

 merce for more than 300 years yet it may be days or even weeks before any boat 

 passes. What can we do was my study as I sat in the hot sun. Shall I try 

 to save paddles and harina? Have I physical strength sufficient to overcome 

 the whirlpool? That I could enter and return was doubtful even without a 

 burden. Our harina was sewed up in a rawhide and floated. Round and round 

 went paddles and packages dancing in the waters. Fastening a rope to the shore, 

 with the other end in hand, I quietly slipped into the water, and while being 

 carried around swam for the center of the whirlpool. Just now my two men dis- 

 covered me, and their cry of horror reached my ears above the roar of the waters. 

 Arriving at the center I fastened the rope to the package of harina, and, hand 

 over hand on the rope, worked my way out. The revolving of the package in 

 the water gradually shortened the rope drawing its burden out of the center of the 

 whirlpool. After a long rest I returned for our paddles, securing two of them — 

 the other was irrecoverably lost. However, I found on shore a blocked-out pad- 

 dle which by successive charring over fire, and scraping with a sharp stone, I 

 finally succeeded in reducing to a serviceable shape." 



" Boats generally keep near the Brazilian shore. The morning after the pas- 

 sage of the falls of Guajaramerim we heard a human shout from the Bolivian 

 shore. With the field glass, I discovered a Chocoba Indian who signaled us to 

 cross over. Finding that we would not comply, the sand bar on that side was 

 soon covered by naked savages with bows and arrows." 



Arriving at Exaltacion the news of the successful exploration spread hke 

 wild-fire. New rubber forests are to those people what new gold-fields are to 

 those of North America. The Sub-Prefect of the province sent a barge with nine 

 powerful Mobima Indians to escort the Doctor to Santa Ana. 



On his near approach to Reyes everybody turned out to receive him with 

 ringing of bells, firing of guns and music; even the school children marched three 

 miles from town to greet him with songs and floral offerings. 



The Doctor writes that everybody talks Beni, and either goes to the new 

 rubber forests or sends some one — that 10,000 men have already gone down the 

 river; that last year the export of rubber from the Beni was 600 arrobas (arroba, 

 twenty-five pounds); that this year it will be 30,000, and next year will probably 

 amount to 250,000 arrobas. 



The accompanying map of the Beni is less than one-half of the river survey- 

 ed by the Doctor. His entire map extends from Reyes to the junction of the 

 river with the Mamore — no portionof which had ever previously been located with 

 instruments. 



The Doctor writes that he will return home this fall for the purpose of organ- 

 izing an expedition to explore the Madre de Dios, a much larger river and longer 

 than the Beni. He proposes to begin his surveys at the ancient Inca capital of 

 Cuzco in Peru and descend the Madre de Dios from its smallest beginnings. 

 He desires to enlist in the undertaking a competent mineralogist, a geologist and 

 a botanist. He plans to spend at least two years in the work, and besides the 



