340 Through the Brazilian Wilderness 



but impossible if the standard maps were correct. But 

 this was not all. It seemed that this river of 1,000 kilo- 

 metres in length was really the true upper course of the 

 Aripuanan proper, in which case the total length was 

 nearly 1,500 kilometres. Pyrineus had been waiting for 

 us over a month, at the junction of what the rubber-men 

 called the Castanho and of what they called the upper 

 Aripuanan. (He had no idea as to which stream we 

 would appear upon, or whether we would appear upon 

 either.) On March 26 he had measured the volume of 

 the two, and found that the Castanho, although the nar- 

 rower, was the deeper and swifter, and that in volume it 

 surpassed the other by 84 cubic metres a second. Since 

 then the Castanho had fallen ; our measurements showed 

 it to be slightly smaller than the other ; the volume of the 

 river after the junction was about 4,500 cubic metres a 

 second. This was in 7° 34'. 



We were glad indeed to see Pyrineus and be at his 

 attractive camp. We were only four hours above the 

 little river hamlet of Sao Joao, a port of call for rubber- 

 steamers, from which the larger ones go to Manaos in 

 two days. These steamers mostly belong to Senhor 

 Caripe. From Pyrineus we learned that Lauriado and 

 Fiala had reached Manaos on March 26. On the swift 

 water in the gorge of the Papagaio Fiala's boat had been 

 upset and all his belongings lost, while he himself had 

 narrowly escaped with his life. I was glad indeed that 

 the fine and gallant fellow had escaped. The Canadian 

 canoe had done very well. We were no less rejoiced to 

 learn that Amilcar, the head of the party that went down 

 the Gy-Parana, was also all right, although his canoe too 



