The River of Doubt 269 



canoe, which at best was too low in the water, must have 

 gradually filled from the wash of the waves. It sank, 

 dragging down the other; they began to roll, bursting 

 their moorings ; and in the morning they had disappeared. 

 A canoe was launched to look for them ; but, rolling over 

 the bowlders on the rocky bottom, they had at once been 

 riven asunder, and the big fragments that were soon 

 found, floating in eddies, or along the shore, showed that 

 it was useless to look farther. We called these rapids 

 Broken Canoe Rapids. 



It was not pleasant to have to stop for some days; 

 thanks to the rapids, we had made slow progress, and 

 with our necessarily limited supply of food, and no 

 knowledge whatever of what was ahead of us, it was im- 

 portant to make good time. But there was: no alternative. 

 We had to build either one big canoe or two small ones. 

 It was raining heavily as the men started to explore 

 in different directions for good canoe trees. Three — 

 which ultimately proved not very good for the purpose — 

 were found close to camp; splendid-looking trees, one 

 of them five feet in diameter three feet from the ground. 

 The axemen immediately attacked this one under the 

 superintendence of Colonel Rondon. Lyra and Kermit 

 started in opposite directions to hunt. Lyra killed a jacu 

 for us, and Kermit killed two monkey? for the men. 

 Toward nightfull it cleared. The moon was nearly full, 

 and the foaming river gleamed like silver. 



Our men were "regional volunteers," that is, they had 

 enlisted in the service of the Telegraphic Commission 

 especially to do this wilderness work, and were highly 

 paid, as was fitting, in view of the toil, hardship, and 



