tion is the main river, for he may be in
a back eddy or in the current from a cross channel. The trees are so
interlaced with creepers that every foot of the way has to be cut, while
among the foliage are snakes of all kinds, from the great boas to the
little tree snakes, a bite from which causes death in a few minutes. There
too are starving jaguars, leopards, and wild cats, who, once they get over
the terror caused by the inundation, are all on the look-out for food.
Amidst all these enemies the inexperienced traveller speedily loses his
presence of mind and even his reason.

"Once when I was going down this very river we heard a noise of wild
laughter, intermingled with strange piercing cries. We knew at once that
it was a traveller lost in the forest. It took us two hours to cut our way
to the spot where we heard the sounds. We guessed who were the sufferers.
Two Spaniards had hired a large canoe, and had taken with them six village
boatmen. They had refused my offer to go with four men of my tribe who
were accustomed to the river and its dangers, as we demanded a much higher
sum than the villagers were ready to go for, and we said when we saw them
put off that they would never get down to the mission. When we reached the
spot one man was lying dead at the bottom of the canoe. One of the
Spaniards and one of the villagers were missing, having no doubt leapt
overboard in their madness. The others were all raving madmen, some with
scarce strength to raise themselves in the boat, others making the
dreadful laughing and screaming that we had heard.

"When they saw us they took us, I believe, for devils, and it was not
until we had lassoed the strongest that we were able to overpower them. We
bound them and laid them at the bottom of our canoe and took them down to
the mission, which was some fifty miles below us. I was told afterwards
that only one of them ever recovered his senses; the others either died
raving or were hopelessly mad. From the one who recovered it was learned
that as soon as they came to the point where the stream became rapid they
made for the edge of the forest. At night they tied up their canoe to a
tree, but in the morning when they awoke they found that the line had
become untied, and that they had drifted into the forest. There they had
been three days when we found them. They had lost all idea of direction,
and had we been a few hours later the last voice would have been silenced,
and when the f