TIRING WORK 
stream, forming a kind of spur, beyond which a regular 
barrier of rock spread from southwest to northeast right 
across the stream. We had difficulty in finding a suitable 
passage, but eventually got through close to the right 
bank in a small corrideira , easily recognizable by subse¬ 
quent travellers, as by the side of it was a rocky hill of a 
conical shape thirty feet high with a tuft of trees on its 
summit. On both banks of the stream rubber trees were 
plentiful. For 5,000 metres the river had been proceeding 
in a perfectly straight line to the north-northwest. 
My work was extremely tiring, as not only was my 
time employed surveying the river carefully and writing 
up plentiful notes, but also I had to control the navigation 
as much as I could and be ready for any emergency, 
owing to the capricious nature of my men and their 
unbounded disobedience. Orders could not be given 
direct, as they were always disobeyed, so that to obtain 
what I wished I generally had to give the contrary order. 
For instance, if I wanted to avoid a rock I ordered 
Alcides to run the canoe on to the rock; if I wanted to 
shoot a rapid I ordered them to take the canoe down with 
ropes, and so on. 
Innumerable rocks were now encountered all the time. 
In places regular great tables or platforms of polished 
rock were to be seen under the surface in the clear water. 
A wonderful group of gigantic rocks was then reached, 
with a most charming island peeping through behind. 
We came to an island 450 metres long and 30 metres 
wide, Anna Island, where two more barriers of rock were 
found right across the stream. Beyond, a bank 150 
metres long of deliciously white sand was observed, where 
some two kilometres of placid navigation was gone 
through; but no sooner had we covered that short distance 
than strong eddies were again met with at the point where 
the river expanded to a somewhat greater width. 
After going almost due west for a short distance the 
105 
