14 



AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



passage of our boat, and had several narrow escapes from shipwreck. 

 These delays gave opportunity to explore the adjacent country and to make 

 collections, particularly of birds, frogs, fishes and mollusks. The river is 

 very tortuous, particularly in its upper course, where it occasionally returns 

 on itself in great loops. The distance by land between Barro do Rio do 

 Gequitiba, our point of departure, and Barro do Rio das Velhas is said to 

 be 55 leagues or about 220 miles, and about 350 miles (estimated) by the 

 river. Our journey down the river, we were told, was one of the quickest 

 and most successful ever made at such a low stage of water, it being accom- 

 plished in twenty-one days, without having to unload the boat or losing any 

 baggage. We were fortunate in our choice of boat, as with an ajojo (two 

 boats lashed together) we should certainly have been wrecked in passing 

 rapids, and with a barca (house boat) have been repeatedly forced to un- 

 load our freight. We had also an excellent crew of boatmen, who often 

 took to the water and guided the boat by hand through dangerous passes. 



We remained three days at the Barra, where we were obliged to get a 

 relay of boatmen, and left September 1 for Januaria, arriving there Septem- 

 ber 9. The Rio Sao Francisco is about twice the size of the Rio das Velhas 

 and unobstructed by rapids; we were hence able to make good progress, 

 though at times delayed by strong head winds. While at the Barra we 

 made very satisfactory collections, but spent much time in unsuccessful 

 efforts to obtain barrels and spirits for our specimens, which we had in- 

 tended to send from this point to Rio Janeiro for shipment to Cambridge. 

 Consequently we were obliged to take them with us, in the hope of being 

 able to send them to the coast for shipment home via Bahia or Pernambuco. 



During the three months since we left Rio de Janeiro it had become 

 evident that my physical condition rendered it impracticable for me to 

 attempt to carry out the journey as originally planned, namely, to descend 

 the Rio Sao Francisco to the Barra do Rio Grande and then cross the divide 

 to the headwaters of the Rio Parahyba do Norte and thence reach the coast 

 in Ceara. After long consultation we decided to divide our party, Mr. 

 St. John to attempt to complete the journey as originally planned, while I 

 was to remain a short time at Januaria and then continue down the Sao 

 Francisco to a point from which it would prove practicable to make an 

 overland journey to Bahia. 



In accordance with this plan Mr. St. John left Januaria in our small 

 canoe, with one man, September 14, with the alternative in mind that 

 should it prove impracticable to make the Ceara portion of the journey he 

 was to join me again at Barra do Rio Negro for the overland trip to Bahia. 

 Pluck and perseverance enabled him to carry out the original schedule of 

 the expedition, though short of funds and finally seriously ill with fever. 



