THE RIVER ARINOS 
River, separated there from the lagoon by a narrow 
tongue of high land, some thirty feet high, between the two 
waters. 
It was thus that on July fourth we encamped on that 
great tributary of the Amazon. We were still thousands 
of kilometres away from its mouth. My animals were 
quite exhausted and were unable to continue. Moreover, 
the forest near this great river, already, so near its birth¬ 
place, over 100 metres wide, would have made their com¬ 
ing along quite impossible, as the grazing was getting 
scarce, and would be scarcer still as we went on north. 
Then, as the river Arinos took me in the direction in 
which I intended to travel, I had made up my mind to 
abandon the animals at that spot and attempt to navigate 
the river, diabolical as its reputation was. 
We had now travelled on horseback some 2,000 kilo¬ 
metres from the last railway station, of which about 600 
kilometres were over absolutely unknown country. Rough 
as the travelling had been, it was mere child’s play 
compared with the experiences we had to endure from 
that day on. 
END OF VOL. i 
877 
