A CONTINUOUS TORTURE 
another island, 100 metres long and 50 metres wide, 
absolutely smothered in vegetation and with a handsome 
gravel spit at its southern end. Two kilometres farther 
another basin, 300 metres broad, appeared. An amazing 
quantity of rubber trees was to be seen round that basin. 
Near the water we also found fine specimens of the mate 
(Ilea? Paraguayensis St. Hil.), with its wax-like leaves, 
much used in certain parts of South America for making 
a kind of tea. 
For close upon thirteen kilometres the river flowed, 
with slight deviations, almost always due north, and with 
its limpid waters was of extraordinary beauty. The coun¬ 
try was open on the right side of us. We saw that day two 
white urubu (Cathartes ). The Brazilians have a curious 
superstition about them. They say that if you write with 
a quill taken from the wing of one of these birds any 
business which you may be transacting will go well; in 
fact, anything you may wish to do and which you set down 
on paper with one of these quills and ink is sure to turn 
out successfully. 
That day I again suffered much, while taking astro¬ 
nomical observations, from the millions of bees and other 
insects which settled in swarms upon my hands and face 
and stung me all over. We were then in latitude 12° 26'.5 
south, longitude 56° 37' west. The temperature in the 
sun was not unbearable, merely 85° Fahrenheit. 
In the afternoon, after we had enjoyed an excellent 
lunch of fish, tinned provisions, and rice — my men also 
enjoying their feijao (boiled beans) — we continued our 
journey. The river for 9,000 metres displayed first clean 
campos and chapada on the left bank and dense forest on 
the right, then campos on the right bank and a belt of 
forest along the river on the left. 
The campos were particularly neat in that region, 
merely a few burity and tucum palms flourishing on the 
edge of the water. In other localities a thick growth of 
51 
