The River of Doubt 273 



radas generally went barefoot or only wore sandals ; and 

 their ankles and feet were swollen and inflamed from the 

 bites of the boroshudas and ants, some being actually in- 

 capacitated from work. AH of us suffered more or less, 

 our faces and hands swelling slightly from the boroshuda 

 bites; and in spite of our clothes we were bitten all over 

 our bodies, chiefly by ants and the small forest ticks. Be- 

 cause of the rain and the heat our clothes were usually 

 wet when we took them off at night, and just as wet when 

 we put them on again in the morning. 



All day on the 13th the men worked at the canoe, 

 making good progress. In rolling and shifting the huge, 

 heavy tree-trunk every one had to assist now and then. 

 The work continued imtil ten in the evening, as the 

 weather was clear. After nightfall some of the men held 

 candles and the others plied axe or adze, standing within 

 or beside the great, half-hollowed logs, while the flicker 

 of the lights showed the tropic forest rising in the dark- 

 ness round about. The night air was hot and still and 

 heavy with moisture. The men were stripped to the 

 waist. Olive and copper and ebony, their skins glistened 

 as if oiled, and rippled with the ceaseless play of the thews 

 beneath. 



On the morning of the 14th the work was resumed in 

 a torrential tropic downpour. The canoe was finished, 

 dragged down to the water, and launched soon after mid- 

 day, and another hour or so saw us under way. The 

 descent was marked, and the swollen river raced along. 

 Several times we passed great whirlpools, sometimes 

 shifting, sometimes steady. Half a dozen times we ran 

 over rapids, and, although they were not high enough to 



