246 THE RIVER OF DOUBT [chap, vm 



thither, sometimes in sigmoid curves ; but the general 

 direction was east of north. As usual, it was very 

 beautiful; and we never could teU what might appear 

 around any curve. In the forest that rose on either 

 hand were tall rubber-trees. The surveying canoes, as 

 usual, went first, while I shepherded the two pairs of 

 lashed cargo canoes. I kept them always between me 

 and the surveying canoes — ahead of me untU I passed 

 the surveying canoes, then behind me untU, after an 

 hour or so, I had chosen a place to camp. There was 

 so much overflowed ground that it took us some httle 

 time this afternoon before we found a flat place high 

 enough to be dry. Just before reaching camp Cherrie 

 shot a jacu, a handsome bird somewhat akin to, but 

 much smaller than, a turkey ; after Cherrie had taken 

 its skin, its body made an excellent canja. We saw 

 parties of monkeys ; and the false bell-birds uttered their 

 ringing whistles in the dense timber around our tents. 

 The giant ants, an inch and a quarter long, were rather 

 too plentiful around this camp ; one stung Kermit ; it 

 was almost like the sting of a small scorpion, and pained 

 severely for a couple of hours. This half-day we made 

 twelve kilometres. 



On the following day we made nineteen kilometres, 

 the river twisting in every direction, but in its general 

 course running a little west of north. Once we stopped 

 at a bee-tree to get honey. The tree was a towering 

 giant, of the kind called milk-tree, because a thick, 

 milky juice runs freely from any cut. Our camaradas 

 eagerly drank the white fluid that flowed from the 

 wounds made by their axes. I tried it. The taste was 

 not unpleasant, but it left a sticky feeling in the mouth. 

 The helmsman of my boat, Luiz, a powerful negro, 

 chopped into the tree, balancing himself with springy 



