Ill 
THE RIVER TROMBETAS 
91 
were time. We could not see it from our station, 
but the last view I had had of it on our way up had 
satisfied me that it rose directly from the eastern 
bank of the river. Leaving one man to guard our 
encampment, we took the other three along with 
us to open a track through the forest. The sun 
had barely risen when we started, and my advice 
was to follow the river-bank ; but with the view of 
getting round the heads of some igarapes, whose 
mouths we could see at some distance up the river, 
the Indians struck into the forest to eastward, 
ascending hills and descending into valleys choked 
with bamboos and Murumurii palms, the latter 
bristling with prickles of several inches in length. 
We had gone along thus for some hours, when 
they appeared doubtful which way to steer. Three 
several times they climbed lofty trees to look out 
for Carnaii, but could see neither mountain nor 
river. At noon, having been on foot six hours, 
we stopped to deliberate on the probable direction 
of our goal, when two of the men, without saying 
a word of their intention, set off to retrace their 
track to our camp. My experience of forest travel- 
ling was as yet very slight, and I knew not how 
essential it was to never lose sight of my Indian 
guides. I supposed (erroneously as it proved) that 
we were at no great distance from the river, and 
that we might easily reach it by tracking the course 
of one of the numerous igarapes. . . . So, with the 
Cafuz Manoel, who was the one left with us, as 
pioneer, we sought about for an igarape, and 
having found one, began to descend along it — no 
easy task, for its course, where not densely beset 
with bushes and lianas, ran through flats of 
