252 THE RIVER OF DOUBT [chap, viii 



bottom, they had at once been riven asunder, and the 

 big fragments that were soon found, floating in eddies, 

 or along the shore, showed that it was useless to look 

 farther. We called these rapids Broken Canoe Rapids. 



It was not pleasant to have to stop for some days ; 

 thanks to the rapids, we had made slow progress, and 

 with our necessarily limited supply of food, and no 

 knowledge whatever of what was ahead of us, it was 

 important to make good time. But there was no alter- 

 native. We had to build either one big canoe or two 

 small ones. It was raining heavily as the men started 

 to explore in different directions for good canoe trees. 

 Three — which ultimately proved not very good for the 

 purpose — -were found close to camp ; splendid-looking 

 trees, one of them five feet in diameter three feet from 

 the ground. The axemen immediately attacked this 

 one under the superintendence of Colonel Rondon. 

 Lyra and Kermit started in opposite directions to 

 hunt. Lyra killed a jacu for us, and Kermit killed two 

 monkeys for the men. Toward nightfall it cleared. 

 The moon was nearly fuU, and the foaming river 

 gleamed like silver. 



Our men were "regional volunteers," that is, they 

 had enlisted in the service of the Telegraphic Com- 

 mission especially to do this wilderness work, and were 

 highly paid, as was fitting, in view of the toil, hardship, 

 and hazard to life and health. Two of them had been 

 with Colonel Rondon during his eight months' explora- 

 tion in 1909, at which time his men were regulars, from 

 his own. battalion of engineers. His four aides during 

 the closing months of this trip were Lieutenants Lyra, 

 Amarante, Alencarliense, and Pyrineus. The naturalist, 

 Miranda Ribeiro, also accompanied him. This was the 

 year when, marching on foot through an absolutely 



