MORE SUFFERING 
ical observations, such as Nome’s Navigation and The 
Nautical Almanac , and all possible articles which were not 
absolutely necessary. 
After I had gone to the great trouble of unpacking 
everything in order to make the loads lighter, I was sur¬ 
prised to discover, a few minutes later, that the men had 
appropriated most of the stuff and shoved it back in their 
loads — to sell it, perhaps, when they got to Manaos. 
I said nothing, as it suited me very well. I should 
have gladly repurchased the things from them on the way. 
One man opened a tin of powdered hyposulphite and, 
believing it to be powdered sugar, proceeded to pour it 
down his throat. Had I the bad habit of making puns, 
I should say that I just saved him in time from being 
“ fixed ” for good. As it was he swallowed some, and 
became very ill indeed for some hours. 
We luckily killed a big mutum and two monkeys 
before leaving that camp, but my men were so ill that 
they left them on the ground, saying they had not the 
strength to carry them so that we might eat them for 
dinner. Well knowing what was in store for us, I pro¬ 
ceeded to carry the huge bird (much larger than a big 
turkey) and one of the monkeys (as big as a child three 
years old) upon my shoulders. 
It was all I could do to struggle along under the 
heavy load, as I already carried upon my person some 
twenty-four pounds in weight of gold, silver, other 
moneys, and instruments, while on my shoulders hung a 
weight of some forty pounds. Add to that the big bird 
and the monkey, and altogether the weight was certainly 
not less than ninety pounds. I was simply smothered 
under it. 
We suffered a good deal that day from lack of water 
and from the intense heat. There seemed to be no air in 
the forest, and our breathing was heavy. Each time a 
man fell down and refused to go on I had to put down my 
249 
