The River of Doubt 261 



attitude of certain men who travel under easy conditions, 

 and who belittle the achievements of the real explorers 

 of, the real adventures in, the great wilderness. The 

 impostors and romancers among explorers or would-be 

 explorers and wilderness wanderers have been unusually 

 prominent in connection with South America (although 

 the conspicuous ones are not South Americans, by the 

 way) ; and these are fit subjects for condemnation and 

 derision. But the work of the genuine explorer and 

 wilderness wanderer is fraught with fatigue, hardship, 

 and danger. Many of the men of little knowledge talk 

 glibly of portaging as if it were simple and easy. A 

 portage over rough and unknown ground is always a 

 work of difficulty and of some risk to the canoe ; and in 

 the untrodden, or even in the unfrequented, wilderness 

 risk to the canoe is a serious matter. This particular 

 portage at Navaite Rapids was far from being unusually 

 difficult ; yet it not only cost two and a half days of severe 

 and incessant labor, but it cost something in damage to 

 the canoes. One in particular, the one in which I had 

 been journeying, was split in a manner which caused us 

 serious uneasiness as to how long, even after being 

 patched, it would last. Where the canoes were launched, 

 the bank was sheer, and one of the water-logged canoes 

 filled and went to the bottom ; and there was more work 

 in raising it. 



We were still wholly unable to tell where we were 

 going or what lay ahead of us. Round the camp-fire, 

 after supper, we held endless discussions and hazarded all 

 kinds of guesses on both subjects. The river might bend 

 sharply to the west and enter the Gy-Parana high up or 



