244 THE RI\^ER OF DOUBT [chap, viii 



will, the endurance, and the bull-like strength of the 

 camaradas, and at the intelligence and the unwearied 

 efforts of their commanders, one could but wonder at 

 the ignorance of those who do not realize the energy 

 and the power that are so often possessed by, and that 

 may be so readUy developed in, the men of the tropics. 

 Another subject of perpetual wonder is the attitude of 

 certain men who stay at home, and still more the 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 wUdemess. The im- 

 postors and romancers among explorers or would-be 

 explorers and wilderness wanderers have been unusually 

 prominent in connection Avith 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 labour, 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. 



