ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
seen from the north showed much erosion in the centre, 
where the rock was exposed underneath. On the south 
side the upper portion of the hill range consisted of a 
vertical rocky cliff in strata each six feet thick. 
Another cut, more unpleasant even than ours, had 
been made by the river in that same range to the northeast 
of that through which we had taken the canoe. An island 
of rock rose between those cuts. 
A few hundred metres below the mouth of that ugly 
channel we found an extensive beach, on which we made 
our camp for the night. The minimum temperature 
during the night of August first was 64° Fahrenheit. 
When we landed the men were proceeding to cut down 
the foliage on the edge of the forest, so as to be able to 
hang their hammocks, when they became greatly excited 
on discovering several nests of maribondos (hornets), 
graceful cones of a parchment-like material enclosing a 
number of superposed discs from one to three inches in 
diameter and about a quarter of an inch apart. Each 
disc had a perforation in order to let the dwellers in those 
little homes pass from one chamber to another from the 
highest in the cone down to the lowest in the apex. 
When we left at 7.30 in the morning and had gone 
but 1,800 metres, the river suddenly described a sharp 
angle and at that point went through a narrow neck. 
Afterward, it widened once more to an average breadth 
of 800 metres, which it kept for a distance of three kilo¬ 
metres in a straight line, the channel being there quite 
clear of rocks and the water beautifully smooth. 
The river was indeed lovely in that part. I had a little 
more time there to look round at the scenery on either side 
of us. I noticed that rubber was still to be found, but 
in small quantities in that region. Rubber trees were 
to be seen only every now and then. Looking back to 
the south and southwest on the range of hills we had left 
behind, I could see that it extended far to the northwest. 
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