ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
eddies were encountered after passing an obstruction of 
accumulated gravel in the centre of the river, there 50 
metres wide. 
Giant trees, not unlike weeping willows, bent over the 
river, their streamers touching the water. A rocky barrier 
extended as far as the centre of the stream, leaving only 
one safe passage on the left side, close to the bank. The 
stream was at that point 100 metres broad, and of great 
beauty, in a straight line north for 7,400 metres. 
My men were beginning to paddle a little better, and 
we were travelling with the current at a considerable 
speed. We had glorious weather, and although the heat 
was great our travelling was perfectly delightful. In the 
daytime we were not worried much by insects. The canoe 
now and then stuck fast in shallow places or upon rocks, 
but we all jumped gaily into the water and pushed her 
along until she floated again. Those baths in the de¬ 
liciously clear water were quite refreshing. We generally 
jumped in, clothes and all, and left it to the sun to dry 
the garments upon our backs and legs. I usually wore 
pajamas while travelling in the canoe, as they were more 
comfortable than other clothes and dried quicker when 
we came out of the water again. 
Many sharp successive turns were met next, in the 
course of the river, which then showed stunted vegetation 
on the right bank and thick forest on the left. A high 
natural wall, 100 feet high, of bright cadmium yellow 
for 30 feet in its lower part, of vivid red for 50 feet above 
that, and darker red above, barred our way in front 
(north). On its summit were peculiar white-barked 
slender trees, so white that they looked almost as if they 
had been painted, but of course they had not. The entire 
centre of the river, forming there an extensive basin, was 
blocked by a high bank of gravel, leaving merely narrow 
channels close to the banks. The high wall deflected the 
stream from 290° to bearings magnetic 30°. A range of 
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