IRREGULAR MEALS 
many times with the loads we were carrying, and many, 
indeed, were the patches of skin we left behind in that 
particular place. We had a great deal of trouble in find¬ 
ing a suitable place to take the canoe down, and eventually 
had to go right across the stream over the waterfall and 
land on an island of rock in the centre of the river, where 
I had seen with my telescope that we might perhaps find 
a suitable passage for the canoe. 
Crossing the river diagonally just above the fall was 
risky work, and although we described a big arc up the 
stream, we only just managed to make the island before 
we were borne down by the current. 
The horseshoe-shaped waterfall was about 300 metres 
across and some 30 feet high. When the river is full it 
must be beautiful, for the east side, which was then abso¬ 
lutely dry, is covered entirely by water, which must form 
a wonderful series of cascades. When the river is in 
flood, the waterfall, extending from northwest to south¬ 
east, has a total width of 1,000 metres. There were some 
picturesque bits of rugged, foliated rock over that great 
staircase, and huge cracks through which the water 
gurgled and foamed: those fissures formed not by the 
erosion of water but by volcanic action, perhaps by an 
earthquake. The large fall to the northwest, over which 
the water flows in every season, had on one side of it a 
steep incline, down which we took the canoe until we came 
to a drop about fifteen feet high. 
We halted for the night just above that high drop, 
spending a most miserable night, being simply devoured 
by insects. The minimum temperature during the night 
of August fifteenth was 72° Fahrenheit. 
My men were in a beastly temper in the morning, 
when we had to proceed, as on previous occasions, to make 
an artificial channel by moving innumerable boulders of 
all sizes. It was a heavy task, for we had hardly any 
strength left, our meals having been most irregular of late. 
213 
