SAN ANTONIO FALLS. 



301 



I had been kept going by excitement, as the men were careless, brutal 

 negroes, and Richards suffering still with the pain in his ear. 



October 1.-— This fall is over fifteen feet, ten of which is at an angle 

 of 45 degrees. The roaring made at intervals by the rushing of the 

 waters over and through the rocks, sounds like distant thunder. Our 

 little canoe is driven for safety out of the water to the land. The bag- 

 gage was carried by a path on the south side to the foot of the falls. 

 Richards went along with the first load, and remained below looking 

 out, while I rested to see every thing sent over. The men idled their 

 time between us, until we were caught in a heavy rain and thunder 

 storm from northeast. The boat was put upon rollers and transported 

 four hundred yards over a hill, and launched into the river below. We 

 were from daylight until dark at the work. 1 should not complain, 

 however, because men never had a more harassing time than these have 

 had. If alone, they would not have come half the distance in the same 

 length of time. They have pushed on for me, when I least expected 

 they would keep on. 



"We noticed that at nearly all the falls in the Madeira the river turns 

 as it cuts its way through the rocks, forming nearly a semi-circle towards 

 the eastwaid; after gaining the base of the declivity, the stream returns 

 again to its original course. Here the path over the land describes a 

 diameter. The storm continued all night in squalls. The negroes took 

 off their clothes and laid down upon the bare rocks under a heavy rain, 

 with cold wind, where they actually slept, while those of the crew, 

 with Indian blood, built a fire and slept on the sand close by it in their 

 clothes. The baggage was left on the sand bank until morning covered 

 with raw hides. We were well drenched, certainly a poor remedy for 

 bilious fever, particularly when followed by the heat of a tropical sun. 



October 2. — Five miles below are "San Antonio" falls, which we passed 

 by tow lines without disembarking our baggage. The difference of level 

 is very small ; the bed of the river much choked with rocks. The stream 

 is divided into a great number of rapid and narrow channels We took 

 breakfast on the west side, at the foot of these falls, with feelings of 

 gratitude we had safely passed the perils of seventeen cataracts. Those 

 parts of the rivers Madeira and Mamore, between the foot of " San An- 

 tonio" and the head of " Guajara-merim" falls, are not navigable for 

 any class of vessels whatever ; nor can a road be travelled at all seasons 

 of the year, on either bank, to follow the course of the river, for the land 

 bordering on the stream is semi-annually flooded. By referring to the 

 map it will be seen, we travelled from Guajara-merim, on the Mamore, 

 in a due north course, to the Pedreneira falls, on the Madeira. By the 



