148 UP THE RIVER OF TAPIRS [chap, v 



Gy-Parana. The mouth of this river had long been 

 known, but its upper course for half its length was 

 absolutely unknown when Rondon descended it. Among 

 those who took part under him in this piece of explora- 

 tion were the present Captain Amilcar and Lieutenant 

 Lyra ; and two better or more efficient men for such 

 wilderness work it would be impossible to find. They 

 acted as his two chief assistants on our trip. In 1909 

 the party exhausted all their food, including even the 

 salt, by August. For the last four months they lived 

 exclusively on the game they killed, on fruits, and on 

 wild honey. Their equipage was what the men could 

 carry on their backs. By the time the party reached 

 the Madeira they were worn out by fatigue, exposure, 

 and semi-starvation, and their enfeebled bodies were 

 racked by fever. 



The work of exploration accomphshed by Colonel 

 Rondon and his associates during these years was as 

 remarkable as, and in its results even more important 

 than, any similar work undertaken elsewhere on the 

 globe at or about the same time. Its value was recog- 

 nized in Brazil. It received no recognition by the geo- 

 graphical societies of Europe or the United States. 



The work done by the original explorers of such a 

 wilderness necessitates the undergoing of untold hardship 

 and danger. Their successors, even their immediate 

 successors, have a relatively easy time. Soon the road 

 becomes so well beaten that it can be traversed without 

 hardship by any man who does not venture from it — 

 although if he goes off into the wilderness for even a 

 day, hunting or collecting, he will have a shght taste of 

 what his predecessors endured. The wilderness explored 

 by Colonel Rondon is not yet wholly subdued, and stiU 

 holds menace to human life. At Caceres he received 



