A DIFFICULT CHANNEL 
but to act; if they followed my orders closely, perhaps 
we might all escape alive. 
Alcides, who was certainly a hard worker, although 
not always in the right direction, had a nasty accident that 
day and cut his foot badly on the sharp rocks. He was 
practically incapacitated for work, as he could stand on 
only one leg, the other leg being contracted with the really 
ghastly injury. 
This was ill-luck, as our strength combined was not 
sufficient for the work we had to do, and now the loss of 
one man, the best of my followers, was an extra trial at 
the most inopportune moment. 
The canoe, too, was in a wretched condition after all 
the many accidents we had had, and we possessed no more 
tar, and could spare no more clothes, to stop up the leak¬ 
ages, which were now plentiful all over her bottom. 
The day of July thirty-first was thus absolutely lost. I 
was on the verge of abandoning the canoe there altogether 
and attempting to get down along the banks of the river 
on foot — which would have been almost suicidal, as we 
never could have reached a place of safety. 
Night came. At sunset we had the usual concert of 
mosquitoes, all kinds of insects and frogs, in such innumer¬ 
able quantities that the din made by them collectively was 
so loud as to resemble the sound of an iron foundry or a 
battle-ship in course of construction, the sounds produced 
by the millions of nocturnal singers being quite metallic 
and reproducing exactly the sound of hammers driving 
rivets into the steel plates of a ship. Whether it was done 
purposely or accidentally I do not know, but those little 
water creatures of the Arinos seemed to keep excellent 
time, their vigour also being most enviable. 
On July thirty-first we had a minimum temperature 
of 64° Fahrenheit during the night. 
I still saw that it was out of the question to endeavour 
to take the canoe over the immense boulders and over the 
165 
