ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
Madeira River — going down by river it would have been 
possible to reach Manaos in two or three days. Dom 
Pedro Nunes, however, with his expedition, could not 
return, nor sell me a boat, nor lend me men; so that I 
thought my best plan was to go back with him up the 
river Canuma and then the Secundury River, especially 
when I heard from the trader that the latter river came 
from the southeast — which made me think that perhaps 
I might find a spot at its most southeasterly point where 
the distance would not be great to travel once more across 
the forest, back to my men whom I had left near the 
Tapajoz. 
Pedro Nunes declined to receive payment for the 
clothes he had given me and my men, so I presented him 
with the Mauser I possessed, which he greatly appre¬ 
ciated; while I gave the crew which had rescued us a 
present of <£20 sterling in Brazilian money. 
It was most touching to see how some of the rubber 
collectors employed by Pedro Nunes deprived themselves 
of tins of jam to present them to us, and also of other 
articles which were useful to them in order to make us 
a little more comfortable. 
I purchased from Pedro Nunes a quantity of provi¬ 
sions — all of an inferior kind, but they were the best 
I could get. Among them were six tins of condensed 
milk, all he possessed, for which I paid at the rate of ten 
shillings each — the regular price in that neighbourhood. 
Those tins of milk were a great joy to Benedicto, Filippe, 
and myself. 
Although the pain was violent when we ate anything, 
the craving for food was now quite insatiable, and we 
could not resist the temptation of eating whatever came 
under our hands. 
Late in the afternoon of that same day we started 
up the river with Pedro Nunes and his fleet of boats. In 
the evening, when we camped, the kindness of the trader 
800 
