CANELOS TO BANGS 157 
we must pass one by one with slow and cautious 
steps, where one slip might be fatal. Though the 
bamboos were scarcely so thick as one's leg and 
completely wetted, the natural asperity of their 
cuticle rendered passing along them less insecure 
than I had feared ; but the longest bridge bent so 
low when we reached the middle that beyond this 
it was like climbing a hill, and in this part a surging 
wave wetted me to the knees, but I stood firm and 
allowed it to pass. The river was obviously rising 
and our bridge must soon be swept away. 
Those who have escaped from death by hunger 
or drowning may understand what a load was taken 
off my heart when we had all got safely across the 
Topo, although I had been obliged to abandon so 
many things which to me were more valuable 
than money. On the following day we might 
hope to reach the Rio Verde, where is a hacienda 
for the fabrication of cane-brandy, and the first 
habitation on the skirts of the Montana. The rain 
came down heavier than ever, and the forest was 
like a marsh, but we dashed on as quickly as we 
could. The track lay mostly along nearly level 
ground, with a high cliff to our left, and the Pastasa 
roaring along its base. In one part we had to wade 
for nearly a mile though fetid mud in which grew 
beds of gigantic horse-tails 18 feet high, and nearly 
as thick as the wrist at the base. At length we 
came to where we had to descend to the beach of 
the Pastasa, or Arenal" as it is called. Here it 
might truly be said C'est le premier pas qui 
coute," for the descent began by a ladder — merely 
a notched pole down a rock which overhung the 
very Pastasa at a height of 150 feet above it; and. 
