ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
we had now practically nothing else left to eat except 
what we could find by shooting or fishing. 
When the canoe had been made lighter we succeeded, 
by constantly jerking her, in moving her slightly, and 
eventually, at two o’clock in the morning — the accident 
having occurred at half-past four in the afternoon — we 
were able to release her and bring her to safety along 
the bank. 
A great hole had been opened in the side of the canoe 
where she had struck the rock, and we had to beach her 
in order to keep her afloat till the morning. Then came 
the heavy task of taking all the baggage from the rocks 
in the centre of the stream along the great barrier of 
sharp cutting stones as far as the bank. 
We were prostrate with fatigue when we had accom¬ 
plished all the work. I lay down on the ground to rest; 
my men fortunately had saved their hammocks, as they 
were the first things they always took care to save when¬ 
ever there was a calamity. Not once during the whole 
journey did my men offer me one of their hammocks when 
they saw me sleeping with great discomfort on packing- 
cases or on the ground. Certainly I was too proud to ask 
them for any favour. 
I had hardly gone to sleep when I thought I heard a 
curious noise by my side, as of something dragging along 
the ground. I immediately jumped up, and saw a huge 
snake some twenty feet long inquisitively looking at me, 
only half a metre away. I do not know which of us two 
was more surprised. The snake, with sinuous grace, 
moved away from me with gradually accelerated speed, 
and, passing right under the hammocks of my men, dis¬ 
appeared in the forest behind. 
Taking all things into consideration, that was a night 
worth remembering. What was worst of all was the fact 
that, with the excitement and the fatigue, I had forgotten 
to wind the chronometer at the usual hour of seven o’clock 
156 
