CHAPTER XII 
A Tiny Globular Cloudlet warning us — Tossed in a Merciless 
Manner — Saved by Providence — Vicious Waters — A Diaboli¬ 
cal Spot — A Highly Dangerous Crossing — A Terrible Channel 
— More Bad Rapids — On the Verge of a Fatal Drop down a 
Waterfall — Saved in Time — A Magnificent Sight — The Au¬ 
gust Falls — A Mutiny — The Canoe, weighing 2,000 Pounds, 
TAKEN ACROSS THE FOREST OVER A HlLL RANGE 
T HE thermometer that night, July thirtieth, showed 
a minimum of 63° Fahrenheit. We repaired the 
large hole (about one foot in diameter) in the 
side of the canoe by stuffing it with a pair of my pajamas, 
while one or two shirts which I still had left were torn 
to shreds in order to fill up the huge crack which went 
from one end of the canoe almost to the other, and 
which had become opened again in scraping rocks in the 
rapid. 
We did not leave that camp until eleven o’clock a.m. 
An isolated hill was visible on the left bank. We had gone 
some 3,000 metres when we came to another fairly strong 
rapid. My men were quarrelling among themselves. 
Alcides, who was fond of gesticulating on such occasions, 
let the steering gear go in order to give more force to his 
words by waving his hands in the air, regardless of the 
danger which was in front of us, with the result that the 
canoe turned a pirouette upon herself and down the rapid 
we went backwards. 
The river flowed from that place in an easterly 
direction for some 3,000 metres, where a great basin was 
formed, strewn with rocks and islets and having two large 
islands in its eastern part. The basin in its widest part 
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