ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
southwest to northeast, on approaching which we heard 
the thundering roaring of another rapid. On the left 
bank we had a hill range all along. The noise of the rapid 
grew louder and louder, and we were soon confronted by 
a terrifying rush of water at a spot where three arms of 
the river met in one point with such force that the clashing 
waters shot up in the air, forming a wave some forty or 
fifty feet high with a foaming crest. The backwash from 
this great wave was so violent against the rocky banks of 
the river — very narrow there — that it was quite im¬ 
possible for the canoe, even empty, to be let down by 
means of ropes. 
My men were in absolute despair, for the farther we 
went the more insurmountable became the obstacles which 
confronted us. They said they had agreed to go on a 
journey of exploration, but surely I was taking them 
direct to Hades — if we had not got there already. I 
could not well contradict them, for certainly that par¬ 
ticular spot was the nearest possible approach to it. 
It does not do ever to lose courage. While my men, 
in the lowest state of depression, sat on the volcanic rocks, 
I explored on the right bank until I found a place where 
the river had eroded a channel but had afterwards filled 
it with an immense accumulation of rocks. If we could 
only move those rocks away —- several hundreds of them 
— I saw that it would be possible to push the canoe along 
the channel which would thus be formed. The work 
would require a great deal of hard labour. 
You should have seen the faces of my men when I 
took them to the spot and asked them to remove all the 
big boulders. In order to set them a good example, I 
myself started to move the rocks about, taking the smaller 
ones for preference. We worked and worked hour after 
hour, jamming our fingers and feet all the time as we 
pushed the rocks to one side and the other of the little 
channel, only four feet wide, which we were making. The 
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