ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
Next day, October sixteenth, as I was in great sus¬ 
pense lest the men should not arrive in time — Mr. Pinto 
being pressed to get quickly down the river with some 
thousands of kilos of rubber he had purchased — my men 
eventually arrived with part of the baggage. They had 
abandoned the rest in the forest, including my valuable 
botanical collection, which had taken me so many months 
of careful labour. Alcides said that the termites had 
played havoc with all my things. The wooden boxes had 
been almost entirely destroyed, as well as most of the 
contents. I was glad, nevertheless, to get back what I 
did, the man Benedicto on that occasion behaving splen¬ 
didly, even going back to the spot where the tragic scene 
with the Indian Miguel had taken place on our outward 
journey and recovering some of my instruments which 
I had abandoned there. 
In the afternoon of October sixteenth I bade good-bye 
to Albuquerque, and gave him a present of £20 sterling, 
as he would not accept payment for the hospitality he 
had offered me. 
With a powerful crew of men we sped down the rivei 
quickly. In a couple of hours we had already arrived 
at the rapids of the Capueras. After passing the island 
of Pombas, before entering the rapids, we encountered 
the first rapid of Sirgar Torta; then the second rapid of 
Baunilla, named after the vanilla plant. The third rapid 
of the Capueras group was called Chafaris; then the 
fourth was the Campinho. 
We went along the banks of the beautiful island of 
Antas, after which we halted at the house of Jose Mara- 
cati, a Mundurucu chieftain, with thirty Indians under 
him. A delegate of the Para Province in charge of the 
Indians, a man of strong Malay characteristics and evi¬ 
dently of Indian parentage, received us, and gave me 
much information about the local rubber industry. He 
told me that the best rubber found in that region was 
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