ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
sign that we could not be far off a big waterfall; in fact, 
I could hear a distant rumble which made me suspect that 
we were much nearer than we supposed. 
The river was flowing to 70° bearings magnetic. Two 
other rapids, most violent, were reached within a short 
distance of each other; then, shortly beyond these obsta¬ 
cles, where the river described a graceful turn, we had 
before us a great surprise. We heard a loud roar like 
thunder; it had been getting louder and louder, and grew 
quite deafening when we turned round the corner. 
Behold! we had no more scenery upon the horizon before 
us on the river, but the sky came right down to the water. 
Great clouds of mist rose up in quick succession in grace¬ 
ful circles. There was an island in the centre of the 
stream; then to the left of the island the sky again came 
right down to the water. There a curious effect was to 
be seen, a high pointed cone of water shooting up skyward 
with terrific force, then rolling upon itself only to give 
way to another cone of water succeeding it. 
My men were terrified when they suddenly realized 
the danger which was only a few hundred metres in front 
of us. There was a mighty waterfall. When my men 
got excited it was generally troublesome, because they 
always disagreed and started quarrelling and insulting 
one another. Some of them wanted to land at once, for 
fear of being dragged down the fall. Alcides, who wanted 
to show his bravery on all occasions, said there was no 
danger at all and we could go in the canoe right as far as 
the edge of the fall. The others naturally got somewhat 
scared at so foolhardy a project. Personally I did not 
like to say a word in the matter, for fear they should think 
that I was afraid. I saw with some concern that Alcides, 
whose mind, I believe, was not quite right owing to the 
hardships we had endured of late, was steering us right 
for the centre of the waterfall. I told him that it would 
be preferable to land on the edge of the waterfall rather 
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