ACCURACY OF COMPASS 
the great boulders over which we had to climb on our 
hands and feet. When we got to the bottom of this ele¬ 
vated country, the forest we found had quite a different 
aspect, which suggested to me the approach of the big 
river. We found there plenty of wild fruit, particularly 
some small black berries — called in Brazilian pattada -— 
quite good to eat; also some most palatable tiny red 
cherries. We wasted a good deal of time picking up the 
fruit instead of marching, my men complaining all day 
long of an empty stomach. They would not take my 
advice to march quickly, so that we might then get plenty 
of food on the river. During the last few days, as I knew 
we must be near the camp where I had left my men in 
charge of my baggage, we had constantly been firing sets 
of three shots •—lire agreed signal — in order to locate 
the exact spot where they were. But we had received no 
answer. Failing that, it was impossible to locate them 
exactly in the virgin forest, unless we had plenty of time 
and strength at our disposal. 
I made sure, by the appearance of the forest, that 
we were now not far from the stream. In fact, on Oc¬ 
tober fifth, when we had marched some distance, much 
to my delight as I walked ahead of my men, who were 
busy picking up berries as they struggled along, I rec¬ 
ognized a little streamlet on which I had made my camp 
the first night I had started out on our disastrous jour¬ 
ney across the forest. 
My men, when I mentioned the fact, were sceptical 
and said it could not possibly be, as we must still be a 
long distance from the Tapajoz. But we had gone only 
a few hundred metres farther when I came upon my old 
camp. There an empty sardine-tin of a special mark 
which I carried was lying on the ground. 
I think that that spoke pretty well for the accuracy 
with which I could march across the forest by compass. 
I knew that at that spot we were only six kilometres 
309 
