THICK FOREST 
the northeast, was then reached on the right side. It 
flowed through a rocky gate. Five or six kilometres 
farther on a tiny streamlet dribbled into the Arinos, and 
also another, one metre wide, on the left bank. 
At noon that day the sky was extraordinarily inter¬ 
esting. From the northwest extended a wonderful 
succession of loop coils of transparent mist, giving the 
sky the appearance of a peacock’s extended tail. 
Just before we halted for lunch we came to a charming 
streamlet of delicious water, two metres wide, on the right 
bank. 
The days were getting warmer as we advanced farther 
north. It was hot work sitting in the sun — 105° Fahren¬ 
heit that day —to take observations for latitude and 
longitude. In the shade the thermometer registered 89° 
Fahrenheit, latitude 12° 21/.3 south; longitude 57° 16' 
west. 
After lunch, two and a half kilometres from our camp, 
we passed on the left bank a delightful tributary coming 
from the west-southwest. Its mouth was eight metres 
wide, and poured forth waters of the most beautiful 
emerald green. 
Five hundred metres farther down another large 
tributary, thirty metres wide, coming from the northeast, 
was observed on the right bank. Farther still, the river 
formed a large basin 300 metres wide. Lovely forest 
flourished round the sweeping curve of the basin. There 
was simply a solid mass of marvellously fresh foliage, with 
hardly a break through which, it seemed, a human being 
could pass. In that particular part the leaves came right 
down to the water, but there was no reason to suppose that 
they grew equally low inland. 
The stream, which was 250 metres broad, showed far¬ 
ther on an immense bank of gravel 700 metres long, which 
rose above the surface in the shape of two long islands, 
one 300 metres, the other 400 metres in length. 
77 
