CHAPTER IX 
Dogs — Macaws — Crocodiles — A Serious Accident — Men flung 
into a Whirlpool — The Loss of Provisions and Valuable Bag¬ 
gage — More Dangerous Rapids — Wonderful Scenery — Dan¬ 
gerous W ork — On the Edge of a Waterfall — A Risky Experi¬ 
ence — Bravery of Author’s Brazilian Followers — A High Wind 
from the Northeast — A Big Lake 
T HE night was heavy and damp, and all our things 
were soaked in the morning with the dew which had 
fallen. We were enveloped in a thick mist when 
we woke up. It became a dense fog when the sun rose, 
and did not clear up until the sun was fairly high above 
the horizon. The minimum temperature during the night 
had been 62 ° Fahrenheit (July twenty-second). 
We were unable to leave until eight o’clock, as the 
river was dangerous enough when we could see where we 
were going, and it would have been rather foolish to add 
one more risk to our travelling in the fog. 
My men were extremely irritable and morose that 
morning, and even our dogs were most troublesome. We 
had had a great deal of trouble with the dogs; they were 
as disobedient and untrainable as the men. Nearly every 
morning we had to waste a considerable time in getting 
the animals back into the canoe. When we were all 
ready to start they generally dashed away into the forest, 
and the men had to go and bring them back. That 
particular morning one dog, the best we had, escaped, and 
my men searched for more than an hour, but were unable 
to find him. In trying to run after him they got their 
feet full of thorns, and they became so enraged that they 
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