298 DOWN AN UNKNOWN RIVER [chap, ix 



our party would have begun to die. There were 

 ah'eady two of the camaradas who were too weak to 

 help the others, their condition being such as to cause 

 us serious concern. 



However, the hUls gradually sank into a level plain, 

 and the river carried us through it at a rate that enabled 

 us during the remainder of the day to reel off thirty-six 

 kilometres, a record that for the first time held out 

 promise. Twice tapirs swam the river while we passed, 

 but not near my canoe. However, the previous evening 

 Cherrie had killed two monkeys and Kermit one, and 

 we all had a few mouthfuls of fresh meat ; we had 

 already had a good soup made out of a turtle Kermit 

 had caught. We had to portage by one short set of 

 rapids, the unloaded canoes being brought down without 

 difficulty. At last, at four in the afternoon, we came 

 to the mouth of a big river running in from the right. 

 We thought it was probably the Ananas, but, of course, 

 could not be certain. It was less in volume than the 

 one we had descended, but nearly as broad ; its breadth 

 at this point being ninety-five yards as against one 

 hundred and twenty for the larger river. There were 

 rapids ahead, immediately after the junction, which 

 took place in latitude 10° 58' south. We had come 

 216 kilometres all told, and were nearly north of where 

 we had started. We camped on the point of land 

 between the two rivers. It was extraordinary to reahze 

 that here about the eleventh degree we were on such 

 a big river, utterly unknown to the cartographers and 

 not indicated by even a hint on any map. We named 

 this big tributary Rio Cardozo, after a gallant officer 

 of the Commission who had died of beriberi just as our 

 expedition began. We spent a day at this spot, deter- 

 mining our exact position by the sun, and afterward by 



