ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
an accident which might have been fatal. The ravine, the 
sides of which were almost vertical, was very narrow — 
only about ten metres across. We let ourselves down, 
holding on to liane. When we reached the bottom we 
found a tiny brook winding its way between great round 
boulders, and leaving a space about two feet wide for 
the water. I proceeded up on the other side, and I had 
got up to a height of some thirty feet. In order to go 
up this steep incline I had placed one foot against a small 
tree, while I pulled myself up by a liane. Unluckily, the 
liane suddenly gave way. The weight of the load which 
I had on my shoulders made me lose my balance, so that 
my body described an entire semicircle. I dropped down 
head first from that height on the rocks below. 
Providence once more looked after me on that occa¬ 
sion. On the flight down I already imagined myself 
dead; but no — my head entered the cavity between the 
two rocks, against which my shoulders and the load be¬ 
came jammed, while my legs were struggling in mid-air. 
I was forced so hard against the two side rocks that I 
could not possibly extricate myself. It was only when 
Benedicto and the new man came to my help and pulled 
me out that we were able to resume our journey — I 
much shaken and somewhat aching, but otherwise none 
the worse for that unpleasant fall. 
On September twenty-sixth my two men were already 
complaining of their loads. They said they could not 
go on any more — the man in good health and full of 
strength rebelling more than poor Benedicto, who was 
in a weak condition. So that we might march quickly, I 
decided to abandon one bag of flour and eight tins of salt 
butter. With the lighter loads we marched comparatively 
well, and went twenty-two kilometres that day with no 
particular experience worth noticing. 
On September twenty-seventh we started once more 
quite early, after a hearty breakfast — notwithstanding 
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