ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
Soon afterwards we came to another barrier of rock, 
extending from north to south. It was called the Bigua. 
There was an island of the same name, the name being 
taken from an aquatic bird which is plentiful there. 
The traders talked a great deal of the dangers of 
those rapids, and they were certainly dangerous because 
of the innumerable submerged rocks; but after the fierce¬ 
ness of those we had encountered before they seemed 
child’s play to us. 
The river there followed a direction of bearings mag¬ 
netic 60°. 
We spent the night of October sixteenth at the serin- 
gueiro’s farm of Boa Vista, most beautifully situated 
where the river described a big curve. In its crudeness 
the hospitality of those exiles was quite charming. They 
hardly ever spoke; they just laid things before you — 
all they possessed — and were overcome with surprise 
when you thanked them for it or when you offered 
payment. 
There was a project of constructing a cart-road for 
some twenty kilometres along the bank, in order to avoid 
the rapids which occurred there in the river. Although 
those rapids were not impressive to look at, they were 
strewn with submerged rocks just under the surface, 
which were very dangerous for the large trading boats. 
If that road were constructed a great deal of time would 
be saved, especially in ascending the river, when some¬ 
times the trading boats took as long as a week or ten 
days to get over that particular rapid. 
The first rapid we saw after we left Boa Vista was 
the Vira Sebo rapid, slightly worse than the following 
ones. I was getting a little better, living on the roof of 
the trading boat, thoughtfully looked after by Mr. Joao 
Pinto and the other employes of Colonel Brazil. I was 
able to drink quantities of condensed milk, and my 
strength seemed to be slowly coming back. 
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