50 
Our Paety is Mistaken for Slave-Eaiders. 
not long after, by a powerful voung Indian, also armed witli bow and 
arrows, and several beantiful dogs aoeonipanying him. 
123. The hunting party had already recognised us a long way off 
but owing to our wearing large straw hats, had taken ns for Brazilians: 
realising that their presence had been betrayed by the irrei^ressible 
barking of the dogs, the young couple, together Avith their boy, had with- 
drawn to a safe liiding-place. The old man, whose great age protected 
him fi'om slavei-y, remained behind to prevent, by his presence, the 
supposed man-hunters making a more diligent search of the foi-est, or 
if necessary to signal those in liiding to lake furthci' fliglit. 
124. They had «omi' from Tuarutu village, Ihc pidvisional end of 
our journey, situate in the similarly named ranges now not so very far 
distant, where deer are not to l)e fonnd : tliey had extt'nd('<l tlieii- trip to 
hunt tliese animals in the savannali up here. They had left their village 
three days before. 
125. A teiiil le (Imnderstorm lliat burst over our heads about mid- 
night A\ ith such fury that any more sleep was absolutely out oi' the 
question, unfortunately broke the i-est that we had all longed for after 
so tiring a march. The rain poured down in such torrents upon our 
tent that although we had spread it under densely leaved trees, the 
thickly oiled cover could not stand the strain. All the elements were in 
an uproar: the unfettered tem^pest blustered and tlustered through the 
encompassing foi-est where its angered howl was every now and again 
deadened by the bursting of the claps of thunder or by the dull boom of 
some giant tree crashing to earth in the near or remote distance. It was 
this that made us shudder inwardly, because, owing to the truly Egyptian 
darkness which was only momentarily cleft by a flash of lightning, we 
were constantly afraid of one of the huge trees close ]iy being uprooted, 
and crushing us the next instant under its weight. However strained 
the effort was to remain in our hammoeks during this upheaval of the 
elements, this alisolutely passive resolution was nevertheless the only 
means of escaping the dangers everywhere threatening, at least in so far 
that they did n(tt strike the little spot that we actually occupied. Th-i 
])Oor Indians, who had made no ]u>ovision for such weather, were far 
worse off than ourselves, because, not having built any temporaiw huts, 
they had just slung their hamm'ocks between the treeft, from which the 
raging storm had driven them under our tent where, packed like 
herrings, resting on their heels, their teeth clattering with cold, they 
squatted on the ground, to l)e l»rilliantly illumined by the lightning at 
one moment, and to (lisap]iear out of sight the next. 
126. Finally came the morning that we had long anxiously awaited, 
and all measures were im|mediately taken for resuming the journey: the 
Indian family liad already left unnoticed, for we sought them in vain 
at lireak of day, and were consequently forced, without their guidance, 
to wade through the low-lying savannah which the violent downpour of 
rain had chanced into a regular lake. With the cool temperature of 
the early morning the more than two-hour long passage across, during 
which the water often cauVe over our knees, was far from pleasant. 
Except for a new species of Onridiiim which, with its yellow blossom- 
