GOOD-BYE TO THE CANOE 
meeting-place of those two giant streams, we found a 
tributary, the Bararati, thirty metres broad. 
The S. Manoel River showed in its centre an elon¬ 
gated island stretching in an east-northeasterly direction. 
Where the Arinos-Juruena met the S. Manoel it was 
1,000 metres wide, the S. Manoel being 800 metres wide 
at the point of junction. 
No sooner had we turned to 320° bearings magnetic 
than we perceived on our left the collectoria of S. Manoel, 
with two or three neat buildings. Several astonished 
people rushed down to the water as they saw the canoe 
approaching. When I landed, the Brazilian official in 
charge of that place and his assistants embraced me 
tenderly and took me inside their house. When I told 
them how we had come down the river, tears streamed 
down their cheeks, so horrified were they. 
“ Did you come in that log of wood? ” said the col¬ 
lector, pointing to my canoe. I said I had. “ Good 
gracious me!” he exclaimed. “I will not let you go 
another yard in that dangerous conveyance. I will con¬ 
fiscate it, as I need a trough for my pigs and it will just 
do for that purpose, and not for navigating a dangerous 
river like this. If you want to go on by river, I will 
supply you with a good boat.” 
That was the last time I put my foot inside my canoe. 
I removed for good the British flag which had flown daily 
at her stern, and it gave me quite a serrement de coeur 
when I patted the poor canoe on her nose and said good¬ 
bye to her for ever. Notwithstanding her miserable 
appearance she had done really remarkable work. 
229 
