DIABOLICAL SONGS 
to swoop down upon us in myriads from all sides. Taking 
the solar observations with the sextant and artificial 
horizon, I endured positive torture from the hundreds of 
bees which settled on my forehead, nose, and hands; while 
thousands of mosquitoes and ants stung my legs, arms, and 
face in those spots where it was not possible to wrap 
myself up with towels. 
It will be noticed in most of the photographs which 
were taken along the river, and some of which illustrate 
this book, that all my men have their heads wrapped up. 
This was done as a protection against the tantalizing 
insects. For, indeed, the temperature was warm; that 
day, for instance, was 105° Fahrenheit in the sun and 
86° in the shade. 
We left again at 1.15, my men being, for a change, 
in a good mood, owing to the amusing time we always 
had fishing. We had been making excellent progress 
during the last two or three days. The strange man X 
enlivened our journey with diabolical songs and with 
crude wit, which sent his companions into fits of laughter. 
When they were in a merry mood or excited, I noticed 
that they paddled along much quicker and better, so I 
did not try to put a check to the abominable language 
which would have jarred the feelings of any one not born 
and bred in the interior of Brazil. 
It was quite interesting to me to find in that region 
so much chapada and open country, as I had fully ex¬ 
pected to find thick forest all along. What struck me 
particularly on the Arinos, and which I could not very 
well explain, was that nearly invariably, when you had 
thick forest on one side of the stream, you had open 
country on the other, and only seldom noticed either forest 
or campos on both sides of the stream at the same time. 
After passing chapada on the left bank we came to 
a great many rocks just above water. A river three 
metres wide entered the Arinos on the right side, and 
63 
