ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
I noticed a cut in a tree, which had been made some years 
before. I quickly discovered the tracks which had been 
followed by the person who had made that cut, and soon 
after I discovered another mark of a knife upon another 
rubber tree. Evidently somebody had been there pro¬ 
specting. We followed the ancient track for some dis¬ 
tance in a most winding way — those marks, I judged, 
having been made about four years before. 
My men were depressed to the utmost degree when, 
on following the track of the stranger, we discovered the 
spot on the river where he had evidently once more got 
into his canoe and gone. One more hope of salvation 
shattered! 
Curiously enough, upon that fourteenth day of starv¬ 
ing, my strength returned again to a certain extent, al¬ 
though I still had no wish whatever to eat; but my head 
began to swim with a strange sensation, as if the trees 
of the forest were tumbling down upon me. The im¬ 
pression was so vivid that several times I fell in trying 
to avoid what I thought was a tree falling upon me. 
The swaying of my head seemed to get worse and 
worse all that day, until the unpleasant sensation of the 
forest closing in and overwhelming me became intolerable. 
In the evening we came in for another storm, the rain 
being torrential through nearly the entire night. During 
the day I had had the optical illusion of trees falling 
upon me. During the night I had the real thing. The 
upper part of the tree to which I had tied my hammock 
came down with a terrific crash during a heavy gust of 
wind, and just missed my head by a few inches. As it 
was it tore down my hammock, with me inside it, and 
I received a bump that I shall not forget in a hurry. 
We certainly seemed to have no luck whatever on 
that fateful expedition! Aching all over, soaked right 
through, water dripping down my hands, nose, and hair 
like so many little fountains, I proceeded to tie my ham- 
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