easant notoriety for being the favorite haunt of
"vipers." The lance-headed or yellow viper, commonly known as the
fer-de-lance, a very venomous serpent capable of making considerable
springs when in pursuit of its prey, is common hereabouts. Later two
of our mules died from snake-bite.

After a walk of three quarters of an hour the guide left the main road
and plunged down through the jungle to the bank of the river. Here
there was a primitive "bridge" which crossed the roaring rapids at
its narrowest part, where the stream was forced to flow between two
great boulders. The bridge was made of half a dozen very slender logs,
some of which were not long enough to span the distance between the
boulders. They had been spliced and lashed together with vines. Arteaga
and Carrasco took off their shoes and crept gingerly across, using
their somewhat prehensile toes to keep from slipping. It was obvious
that no one could have lived for an instant in the rapids, but would
immediately have been dashed to pieces against granite boulders. I
am frank to confess that I got down on hands and knees and crawled
across, six inches at a time. Even after we reached the other side
I could not help wondering what would happen to the "bridge" if a
particularly heavy shower should fall in the valley above. A light
rain had fallen during the night. The river had risen so that the
bridge was already threatened by the foaming rapids. It would not
take much more rain to wash away the bridge entirely. If this should
happen during the day it might be very awkward. As a matter of fact,
it did happen a few days later and the next explorers to attempt to
cross the river at this point found only one slender log remaining.

Leaving the stream, we struggled up the bank through a dense jungle,
and in a few minutes reached the bottom of a precipitous slope. For
an hour and twenty minutes we had a hard climb. A good part of the
distance we went on all fours, sometimes hanging on by the tips
of our fingers. Here and there, a primitive ladder made from the
roughly hewn trunk of a small tree was placed in such a way as to
help one over what might otherwise have proved to be an impassable
cliff. In another place the slope was covered with slippery grass
where it was hard to find either handholds or footholds. The guide
said that there were lots of snakes here. The humidity was great,
the heat was excessive, and we were not in training.

Shortly after noon we