210 



SNAGS AND SAWYERS* 



would be a work directly in opposition to the natural purposes of navi- 

 gation, for which it was intended. 



As the upper country wears away, and the heavy load of earth is 

 carried down towards the mouth of the river, the head of the stream is 

 deepening, and being constantly cut down towards a level with the 

 bottom, which is filling up at its mouth. This will be best explained 

 by the sounding-line, cast from a vessel entering the mouth of a river. 

 The pilot *is taken on board to carry the ship safely over the bar, or that 

 bank of earth which has been carried down from the head of the streams 

 and deposited at the river's mouth. As the ship crosses this shoal, the 

 man at the lead-line calls deeper and deeper soundings as he enters the 

 river. He will continue to do so some distance up. From this point 

 back to the bar, the bottom of the river is an inclined plane, sloping 

 from the edge of the sea towards the mountains, down to the last deep 

 soundings of the leadsman, from which place to the ocean the river 

 may be said to be running up hill ; a hill made by its own action, and 

 which is stretching farther and farther up stream. 



"We find some snags and sawyers in the channel that should be cleared 

 out to make this river in a condition for steamboat navigation. 



As we descend, the Chapare widens in some places two hundred yards,, 

 and from two and a half to three fathoms water. The river has risen three 

 feet by rains in the up country, though the current remains about 

 the same, which is not half the rate of the Gulf stream between the 

 Florida reefs and the Bahama banks. 



After paddling from daylight until 9 a. m. the crew were ready for 

 breakfast. Mamore sported over the beach. We made after ducks, 

 geese, and wild turkeys as the only safety-valve to our boiling pot. The 

 beautiful pink and white spoon-bill skims the insects from the surface 

 of the river, while the proud-looking but homely tall white cranes 

 survey us like some bodies with very stiff shirt collars. Temperature 

 of the river water, 74°; air, 75° ; and wet bulb, 74°. 



We have been unfortunate at fishing. As the Indians pay no attention 

 to it just here, we are inclined to believe there are few fish, while in the 

 rocky formation we found the Indians pursuing them. There the w r ater 

 is not so muddy as here. In Lake Titicaca the most fish are found on 

 the east side of the lake, where the water was limpid. We found more 

 fish at the southern end of that lake when the waters were settled than 

 at the north, where they come in turbid. 



The air at night seems to be filled with musquitoes and bats ; by 

 daylight birds appear in proportion. Thousands of parrots keep the 

 woods in a constant din. 



