ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
canoe — held together with pieces of rope and stopped 
up with pieces of our garments. 
Those poor people, stranded there without a possi¬ 
bility of getting away, were extremely kind. My men 
heard with delight that we should find no rapids of great 
importance from that point down stream, and that we 
might find a few other seringueiros on our way. 
I was able to buy from the seringueiro a quantity of 
food, my men being overjoyed at the prospect of eating 
feijao again with their meals. Naturally the expense of 
taking food so far up the river was very great, and I was 
glad indeed to pay the exorbitant price which the 
seringueiro asked of <£10 sterling for each 50 kilos of 
farinha; feijao at 6$. a pound; sugar at 5s. a pound — 
the prices which the seringueiros themselves had to pay 
for those commodities from the rare trading boats which 
once a year reached that farthermost point. 
We started down stream once more, passing a tribu¬ 
tary stream, five metres wide, on the left bank. We had 
gone only nine kilometres, when, to our great delight, we 
met two trading-boats owned by a Brazilian Jew, who 
was on board in a critical condition from malarial fever. 
Although in a dying state, he had not lost his racial com¬ 
mercial ability. It was most interesting to watch his 
countenance while trying to strike the best bargain possi¬ 
ble. He sold me sixty candles for 60s., a tin of eight 
biscuits for the equivalent of 7s. 6d., and a quantity of 
dried meat at 5s. a pound. 
He looked askance at us, as he could not make out 
who we were, what we were doing up that river, or where 
we could have come from. At last he signed to me that 
he had something to whisper in my ear. He asked me if 
I was a runaway cashier from a bank! I told him that 
if I had been a runaway cashier I would certainly not 
come and spend my money on the Arinos-Juruena River. 
The sight of human beings again — if that term could 
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