ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
Tabatinga, on the left side of the stream, was the 
Brazilian military post on the frontier. A neatly built, 
loopholed, square blockhouse, painted white, was situated 
some fifty feet above the level of the river on the summit 
of the bank. It was reached by a long flight of white 
cement steps. The Brazilian flag flew gaily upon a flag¬ 
staff at this most westerly point of the great Brazilian 
Republic on the Amazon (Solimoes) River. 
A few soldiers dressed in khaki stood, with their legs 
wide apart, watching the arrival of the steamer, while their 
officers, in speckless white clothes, hastily descended the 
long flight of steps and came on board, bringing bouquets 
of flowers to the captain. 
There was a pretty garden near the blockhouse. Three 
mountain guns pointed viciously at the river from the most 
exposed position in Tabatinga at the top of the staircase. 
According to the account of a non-commissioned officer, 
there was a force there of 240 soldiers " escondido no 
matto” — that is to say, kept hidden in the forest! 
After we had passed the frontier on the north side of 
the river, a tiny tributary brook, almost hidden by the 
vegetation and only identified by a white-barked tree on 
the left bank and huts on either side, the scenery made 
a change for the better. 
Leticia was the name of the Peruvian frontier post, 
which consisted of two or three brick sheds with corru¬ 
gated iron roofs. 
We arrived at Iquitos on December twenty-third, at 
8.30 a.m., having employed seven days and twenty hours 
on our run from Manaos. 
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