THE TAUNAY RIVER 277 



had been that furnished by the palm-tops. Two men 

 were detailed every day to cut down palms for food. 



A kilometre and a half after leaving this camp we 

 came on a stretch of big rapids. The river here twists 

 in loops, and we had heard the roaring of these rapids 

 the previous afternoon. Then we passed out of earshot 

 of them ; but Antonio Correa, our best waterman, 

 insisted all along that the roaring meant rapids worse 

 than any we had encountered for some days. " I was 

 brought up in the water, and I know it like a fish, and 

 all its sounds," said he. He was right. We had to 

 carry the loads nearly a kilometre that afternoon, and 

 the canoes were pulled out on the bank so that they 

 might be in readiness to be dragged overland next day. 

 Rondon, Lyra, Kermit, and Antonio Correa explored 

 both sides of the river. On the opposite or left bank 

 they found the mouth of a considerable river, bigger 

 than the Rio Kermit, flowing in from the west and 

 making its entrance in the middle of the rapids. This 

 river we christened the Taunay, in honour of a 

 distinguished Brazilian, an explorer, a soldier, a senator, 

 who was also a writer of note. Kermit had with him 

 two of his novels, and 1 had read one of his books dealing 

 with a disastrous retreat during the Paraguayan war. 



Next morning, the 25th, the canoes were brought 

 down. A path was chopped for them and rollers laid ; 

 and half-way down the rapids Lyra and Kermit, who 

 were overseeing the work as well as doing their share of 

 the pushing and hauling, got them into a canal of smooth 

 water, which saved much severe labour. As our food 

 supply lowered we were constantly more desirous of 

 economizing the strength of the men. One day more 

 would complete a month since we had embarked on the 

 Duvida — as we had started in February, the lunar and 



