ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
beauty, flowing to 30° bearings magnetic north-northeast 
for 5,000 metres in a direct line. 
We had gone thirty kilometres that day, and we had 
had so many things happen to us, we felt so rich and happy 
with our new purchases and with the prospect that our 
trials were nearly over, that when night came we had a 
grand meal, and slept soundly, notwithstanding the 
swarms of mosquitoes which buzzed around us. 
During the night of August eighteenth the minimum 
temperature was 71° Fahrenheit. During the day the 
temperature of the air was not much warmer — only 78° 
Fahrenheit in the shade with a nice breeze, while 113° 
Fahrenheit were registered in the sun. 
We halted for one day in order to repair the canoe, 
as it was all we could do to keep her afloat, she was leaking 
so badly. Poor Benedicto, who had spent the last few 
weeks baling out the water, swore that the moment he 
could leave the expedition he certainly would, since he 
felt he should turn into a fish soon, as he had not been 
dry one second for the last two months. 
The minimum temperature during the night of 
August nineteenth was 72° Fahrenheit. 
When we proceeded down the river we came upon 
most beautiful sand beaches, one as much as 500 metres 
long. Quantities of most delicious tortoise eggs were to 
be found, and we killed some giant tortoises. Altogether 
we felt that all of a sudden we had dropped from a regular 
inferno into a heaven on earth. 
My men were paddling with great vigour and were 
making rapid progress, the river flowing almost all the 
time northward, with deviations of a few degrees toward 
the east, in stretches from 2,000 to 6,000 metres in length. 
We crossed an immense basin 1,500 metres broad, with 
most gorgeous sand beaches. Their formation in small 
dunes, occasionally with an edge like the teeth of a double 
comb, was most interesting. Once or twice we came to 
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