CHAPTER X 



TO THE AMAZON AND HOME; ZOOLOGICAL AND 

 GEOGRAPHICAL RESULTS OF THE EXPEDITION 



Our adventures and our troubles were alike over. 

 We now experienced the incalculable contrast between 

 descending a known and travelled river, and one that is 

 utterly unknown. After four days we hired a rubber- 

 man to go Avith us as guide. He knew exactly what 

 channels were passable when we came to the rapids, 

 when the canoes had to unload, and where the carry- 

 trails were. It was all child's play compared to what 

 we had gone through. We made long days' journeys, 

 for at night we stopped at some palm-thatched house, 

 inhabited or abandoned, and therefore the men were 

 spared the labour of making camp ; and we bought 

 ample food for them, so there was no further need of 

 fishing and chopping down palms for the palm-tops. 

 The heat of the sun was blazing ; but it looked as if 

 we had come back into the rainy season, for there were 

 many heavy rains, usually in the afternoon, but some- 

 times in the morning or at night. The mosquitoes were 

 sometimes rather troublesome at night. In the daytime 

 the piums swarmed, and often bothered us even when 

 we were in mid-stream. 



For four days there were no rapids we could not run 

 without unloading. Then, on the 19th, we got a canoe 



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