ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
river in order to trade with the different houses on the 
banks of the stream. The travelling was not particularly 
rapid, as one stopped ten or twenty times a day, and 
wasted endless time while the people came on board to 
buy beer or rum, or cotton goods, looking-glasses, etc., 
etc. Rubber and aigrettes, as well as money, were given 
in exchange for the goods received. 
I left Iquitos on December twenty-ninth on the launch 
Himac, belonging to the Swiss firm of Messikommer. I 
was told that she would he ready to start at nine a.m. 
sharp on December twenty-eighth, and at that time I got 
on board. The actual time of our departure was at 6.30 in 
the afternoon of December twenty-ninth. That was, of 
course, Iquitos punctuality. 
The prefect of the province of Loreto had shown me 
much civility and had telegraphed, by the wireless instal¬ 
lation which had been established between Iquitos and 
Lima, making every possible arrangement for me to travel 
quickly. Thus, although in a terrible condition of health, 
I was able to make a record journey between Iquitos and 
Lima, the capital of Peru. 
Once started in the launch Himac, we went through 
interesting channels, outlets of the main stream being 
often noticeable on either bank, cutting wide passages 
through the forest and forming one or more shallow 
lakelets, with innumerable aquatic plants on the surface 
of the water. As we went farther it became easy to under¬ 
stand how islands were constantly forming in the river. 
Quantities of large and small logs of wood were con¬ 
tinually floating down the stream; the banks were gradu¬ 
ally being eaten away by the current. Whole trees fell 
down with their immense branches and polypi-like roots, 
and formed a barrier arresting the progress of the floating 
wood. Particles of earth deposited by wind and by water 
saturated with impurities settled there. Soon grass would 
begin to grow on those deposits, which quickly collected 
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