THE RIVER OE MISFORTUNE. 101 
Pedroso himself had particular occasion to fear 
it; for in his wandering life he had worked on 
it years ago, logging; his canoe had struck a 
rock and upset, his two companions had been 
drowned, and he had saved his own life with 
the greatest difficulty. He had disliked our 
coming up it, and he wanted to get off as soon 
as possible. An unlucky river, seflores; its 
name is the Rio de Desgracia, the River of 
Misfortune, and it is rightly so-called. 
When we got back to the launch some Indians 
who were cutting timber sent word that they 
could lead us through the monte to the falls, 
which were six hours’ journey off, upon a good 
track; and that fish lay below them in quan¬ 
tities. We declined to go. The reason which 
we gave to each other were that Indian stories 
were unreliable : that it would certainly take 
a day to go and a day to come back: that we 
should probably find nothing when we got 
there : and that anyhow we could not spare the 
time. Those were the reasons we gave : but 
neither of us had the slightest intention of 
going back to that river. 
