THE THREE GRACES ISLANDS 
other formed an elongated oval; a third had originally 
been circular but was then reduced to the shape of a half- 
moon, the other half having been washed away. 
For 4,000 metres the river had flowed due west; then 
it turned to 310° bearings magnetic. Two large islands 
in succession — one 400 metres long and 350 metres wide, 
Pericles Island; the second of an equal width to the first, 
and 700 metres long, Aspasia Island — were seen. 
A high wind from the northeast and east continued 
the entire day, and broke into occasional severe gusts that 
were most troublesome to us. Heavy rain-clouds hung 
over our heads. My men felt cold and shivery and quite 
miserable in the choppy waters, which made them ex¬ 
tremely ill. Their faces were green and yellow, their eyes 
had a pitiful expression in them as if they were all being 
led to execution. The temperature of the atmosphere was 
only 75° Fahrenheit. 
Shortly before sunset, after a beautiful stretch of river 
of 4,000 metres to 335° bearings magnetic (north- 
northwest), followed by one of 4,000 metres 5° farther to 
the north, we came to an immense basin, a regular lake, 
4,000 metres long, 1,500 metres wide, with two lovely 
islands in its northerly part. It was there that the great 
river Juruena, coming from the southwest, joined the 
Arinos. We had the greatest difficulty in crossing the big, 
deep lake, because of the high wind which was blowing at 
the time. The waves were high and caught us on one 
side; the rolling was so heavy that on many occasions 
we shipped a great deal of water and nearly capsized. 
When we got into the centre of the lake the wind increased 
in fury. My men were very ill and much terrified, for 
we had a great expanse of water on all sides and we could 
not bale the water out of the canoe fast enough, so quickly 
was she filling. I urged on the men all the time and took 
an extra paddle myself to encourage them. We made 
slow progress, the men suffering greatly. I had to wait 
vol. iL — 9 129 
