COLD AND FOG 
wide coming from the west had cut its way through the 
latter bank. 
The main river was getting more and more magnificent 
at every turn. I should have enjoyed the journey very 
much had it not been for the constant attention I had to 
pay to my men, who left their paddles and steering gear 
at every moment in order to fire recklessly at birds or 
ariranhas or capivaras, much to the danger of everybody 
on board. They would blaze away with their repeating 
rifles — and bullet cartridges, of course — at parrots and 
even colibri birds, 100 or 200 metres off. They said the 
rifles were bad because they could never hit anything! 
I had ceased scolding them. They made me positively ill 
with pity; I was only praying for our supply of cartridges 
to come to an end soon, so that if we were to die at all it 
might not be through being pierced by one of our own 
bullets. 
The river had been flowing, with slight deviations, 
northwards. 
We came to an enchanting island 70 metres wide, with 
thick vegetation upon it and fine rocks. 
The river in that portion flowed practically north in 
great stretches of 6,000 and 4,000 metres. Another large 
and beautiful island, 250 metres long and 70 wide, Ghis- 
laine Island, was passed, and we admired the gorgeous 
vegetation upon it. 
Below the island the river was 100 metres wide and 
very shallow, not more than from one to four feet in depth. 
We halted at sunset, having gone that day 92 kilometres 
800 metres. 
During the night of July eleventh my men suffered a 
great deal from cold, the thermometer being as low as 
45° Fahrenheit. In the morning there was a thick fog 
over the river, so thick that we had to delay our departure 
until eight o’clock, as we could not see more than two or 
three metres ahead. 
VOL. II. —4 
49 
